Friday Roundup

Though Colorado failed to abolish the death penalty yesterday, they did manage to ban texting while driving.

Add this to the list of bad signs coming out of the Obama Administration DOJ – when can we connect the dots between all the bad signs and officially become disappointed? – from TalkLeft: DOJ Argues FBI Had No Duty to Disclose Evidence of Perjury.

A good editorial, not to be missed, out of the DeMoines Register: Let plaintiffs sue for prosecutorial abuse.

Finally, from the "You can't write this stuff" department, Matt Kelley, author of the Criminal Justice blog on Change.org, tweeted this morning about a program called "Mock Prison Riot." The idea is to either participate in or watch trained professionals diffuse a staged prison riot and learn from the techniques used. Matt asks, "Is this a reality show or real prison guard training?" More than a little surreal.

Colorado death penalty bill dies in Senate

DENVER -- The Colorado Senate rejected a proposal to abolish the death penalty by a single vote Wednesday, hours after backers revived the measure for a final vote on the last day of the legislative session.

Senators voted 18-17 to defeat the bill, which would have used the savings from eliminating capital punishment prosecutions to fund cold case investigations. Last month, a similar proposal passed the House by one vote.

That looks to be the end of the line for the bill, unfortunately. TalkLeft says, "Today was the last day for the Senate to act. Hopefully, a similar bill will come up again next year."

Capital Defense Weekly is much more optimistic:

In Colorado repeal efforts came within vote of making that state the third to abolish in recent years. Folks on the ground in Colorado appear to have done one heck of a job even if their efforts came up a little short. This vote wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near this close. We are winning.

TalkLeft names four democrats who voted against the bill. The unspoken premise is that this is remarkable because Democrats should more reliably vote "the right way" on criminal justice issues like the death penalty. Although I think he's right that Democrats are more likely to support a bill like this, I still lament that the death penalty is seen as a partisan issue. It's not: it's about fairness, humanity, and, in this case, using resources wisely. Better luck next year.

Update on Colorado's death penalty abolition movement

Bad news on the fight in Colorado to abolish the death penalty. As you might recall, there had been a movement to use the money saved to solve cold cases, instead of using millions of taxpayer dollars on a death penalty that was hardly ever used in Colorado.

Change.org remarks:

Colorado's Senate decided yesterday not only to maintain status quo (wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on one execution every three decades) - but to go one step further. Senators also voted to charge every person convicted of a crime $2.50 on top of court fees they already pay, to help fund investigations of unsolved crimes.

From the New York Times:

An effort to repeal Colorado’s death penalty law stumbled Monday in the State Senate after two hours of sometimes anguished and angry debate, leaving the bill in limbo and supporters scrambling to find votes as the end of the session looms this week... The Colorado House voted in support of repeal, by a single vote majority, last month.