On the Repeal Colorado's Death Penalty: Celebrating With Respect; and Vigilance.

Colorado has repealed the death penalty and yesterday the governor commuted to life the sentences of the three men who remained on death row. Thank God, it is about time, and there are so many to thank for holding this line for so long. It has been over 20 years since I was on the cutting edge of the capital punishment resistance and I am so appreciative of everyone who continued the battle. So, thank you, to my wife, Sharlene, to so many friends and colleagues, and to those I don't know but who have suffered the agonies of this struggle.

And, or but, or however one might characterize this lead in, I have some other thoughts rolling around, for what it's worth. While it is natural to celebrate the end of a long, hard, painful struggle, celebration is not really the direction to which I'm drawn at the moment. Perhaps it's just a question of how one defines celebration. I am much more relieved; more of the weary, tinkling ice in a whiskey glass toasting the end of this part of the battle than the sound of popping corks and roaring laughter. Why?

Don't know for sure, but part of it is thinking about the folks who gave their hearts to this struggle and who did not live to see this day. Terri Brake and Bryan Shaha were the two I knew best but there are plenty of others.

Part of it is that, while this victory focuses upon our belief in the sanctity of life, all of these cases involve the reality that someone has died, that families have suffered horribly, that their pain deserves our respect and empathy, even while we often have been among the targets of their vitriol. So I guess I'm feeling the way I did walking away from the courthouse after a life verdict. Happy, relieved, exhausted, filled with emotion for our client and their loved ones; and acutely aware that standing outside that same courthouse are people tormented in ways I hope to never imagine.

Part of it is that, while death is off the table, life in prison is not, and life became real life in Colorado largely because there was a death penalty, and all three of the men rescued yesterday will bear the reality of that.

Part of it is that, while the these headlines mean so much, there are still active capital cases in Colorado. Hopefully, the respective prosecutors will read the writing on the wall and stop this wasteful process. But for now, plenty of our comrades are still buried in these cases, unable and unwilling to take their aching feet off the pedal until they know for sure that the race is over.

Part of it is, and THIS IS A BIG PART, that while corks are popping or ice is tinkling around the state, down at the federal courthouse in Denver prosecutors have dragged the wildly incompetent Mr. Dear out of El Paso county and into the jaws of the U.S. death machine, unconscionably avoiding Colorado's practical, fiscal, and moral stance on capital punishment. Knowing my long time comrades at the Federal Public Defenders as I do, the government won't be able to avoid a long, hard, knockdown - drag out fight, a fight that is very much alive, even in the wake of the end of this grand, state struggle.

So, perhaps my relief sounds less effusive than one might expect, I hope you'll believe me when I say that it is deep and wide, and it is quietly roiling with emotion, some of it hard earned. It is just not complete. Thank you again to everyone who bore and who still bears this struggle. There will be those who will try to undo this progress. Whether the words celebration or relief better fit your reaction to this great news, VIGILANCE is still required of all of us.

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