Legislature rejects efforts to reduce number of death penalty investigators

DENVER -- The Colorado House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected a measure that would have shrunk the state's capital crimes unit, which investigates people who are eligible for the death penalty.

Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Boulder, argued that Colorado's dearth of death row inmates shows the state does not need four people to investigate such crimes, and that two would suffice.

But Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, said the bill moves in the direction of eliminating the death penalty, which eliminates options for prosecutors.

Often, accused criminals take guilty pleas and accept life sentences rather than face the prospect of death row, he said.

"We need options for society to deal with the most vicious among us," he said.

Weld County's only recent death penalty case, against Allen Bergerud in 2004, ended in a mistrial when one juror did not want to vote 'guilty.' That trial never went to a sentencing phase, and in a second trial against Bergerud, which led to a conviction, Weld District Attorney Ken Buck did not seek the death penalty.

Larimer County prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty against Shawna Nelson, who is accused of killing the wife of her lover, a Greeley police officer.

Nelson is scheduled for a preliminary hearing all day today.

Earlier this month, an inmate convicted of killing his cellmate was spared from execution when his jury deadlocked in the sentencing phase. William Sablan, 42, was convicted in March of first-degree murder for killing his cellmate in October 1999.

Weissmann said he's heard that the one inmate remaining on death row, who has been there for 14 years, is unlikely to ever be executed.

"I don't believe that this does weaken the death penalty or our ability to go there," Weissmann said. "It won't have any impact on how many times the death penalty is carried through to execution."

But 10 of his Democratic colleagues voted against the measure, which lost 30-35.