"Bid to repeal death penalty fails in Senate," is the Denver Post report by Jessica Fender and Lynn Bartels.
A bill that would have repealed the death penalty in Colorado and used the savings to fund cold case investigations failed this afternoon in the Senate on a 17-18 vote.
Joining all 14 Republicans in opposing the measure were Democrats Mary Hodge of Brighton, Jim Isgar of Hesperus, John Morse of Colorado Springs, and Lois Tochtrop of Thornton.
A conference committee earlier in the day put a ban on the death penalty back into a bill providing funding to solve cold case murders, setting up their colleagues for politically tricky votes on the controversial topic on the final day of the session.
The House in April passed by one vote the original version of House Bill 1274, which would have ended capital punishment and used the savings to build a cold case task force within the Colorado Bureau of Investigations.
"Colo. Senate votes against repealing death penalty," is John Schroyer's update for the Colorado Springs Gazette.
Despite a miraculous revival and pleas from several impassioned Democrats, a bill to repeal Colorado's death penalty was killed a second time, by a razor-thin margin and on the last day of the 2009 legislative session
The bill, sponsored by Democrats Sen. Morgan Carroll, of Aurora, and Rep. Paul Weissmann, of Louisville, failed in the Senate by a single vote. Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, cast the decisive vote, and the bill died 18 to 17. Morse was considered a swing vote, along with Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne. But while Gibbs switched his earlier vote against the bill, Morse remained steadfast.
Earlier coverage begins here.
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