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  Home Page » News » House Votes To Repeal Death Penalty

House votes to repeal death penalty

Freshman Rep. Ed Vigil's crisis of conscience decides issue

by Joe Hanel
Herald Denver Bureau DENVER - The state House of Representatives moved to repeal the death penalty in a dramatic vote that came down to one man's very public crisis of conscience.

Rep. Paul Weissmann knew the vote would be close when he brought up his House Bill 1274, which ends Colorado's death penalty and devotes the financial savings to investigating unsolved murders.

Debate lasted only a few minutes Tuesday, apparently because most of the 65 representatives had made up their minds. All except Ed Vigil.

The freshman Democrat from Fort Garland sat still as the House's electronic board tallied the vote - a 32-32 tie.

Vigil, a former district attorney's investigator, thinks the death penalty is a useful tool. In a 2007 case, Jose Luis Rubi-Nava confessed to killing his girlfriend in Douglas County by dragging her behind his car. The threat of the death penalty secured Rubi-Nava's plea, Vigil said.

"As soon as the death penalty became part of the equation, he pled guilty and got a life sentence," he said.

But Vigil also was thinking about moral appeals he had heard, including from Archbishop Charles Chaput, the senior Roman Catholic clergyman in Colorado.

Vigil bit his lip and ran a hand back through his hair. Other House members stood up and looked his way as a silent minute dragged by. At last, he reached across the desk and pushed the green button for "yes."

The death penalty repeal passed 33-32. Republicans Ellen Roberts of Durango and Scott Tipton of Cortez voted against HB 1274.

Rep. Lois Court, D-Denver, reached over and hugged Vigil. Vigil, though, was not in a celebratory mood.

He disagrees with Weissmann's argument that death-penalty budgets could be spent better on unsolved homicides.

"I don't think by repealing the death penalty we are going to solve all these cold cases. I think that's a false hope," Vigil said.

Weissmann, D-Louisville, has been trying to pass a death-penalty repeal for years. He argues that there have been 1,400 unsolved murders in the last 40 years, but only one execution.

The bill now goes to the Senate. Weissmann thinks it will be another close vote, but he hasn't polled senators on whether they support it because "I don't like to jinx myself."

jhanel@durangoherald.com