This state appears likely to abolish the death penalty after Senate vote
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The Colorado Senate on Friday passed a bill to repeal the death penalty, sending the measure to the House where it is expected to win approval.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has said he would sign the bill into the law, report the Denver Post and the Associated Press. According to New York Magazine, the vote on Friday “cleared the way for almost certain repeal of the death penalty in Colorado.”
A similar bill failed to win approval in the Colorado Senate last year.
Democratic Sen. Rhonda Fields of Aurora spoke against the bill on Thursday. Her son and his fiancee were murdered in 2005, and two of the three men on Colorado’s death row were convicted of the murders.
“Either we’re for public safety, or we’re not,” she argued.
Republicans opposed to the bill offered amendments to put the issue on the ballot, but failed to win approval.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 21 states and Washington, D.C., have abolished the death penalty. In four states, governors have placed moratoriums on executions.
