Today's Pueblo Chieftain reports, "‘Capital punishment is hate and death’; Father doesn't want death penalty trial for son's alleged killer." It's written by Gayle Perez.
A Pueblo man said he's disappointed prosecutors now will be allowed to seek the death penalty for his son's accused killer after a judge agreed Tuesday to withdraw the suspect's guilty plea.
"I totally disagree with the fact they continue to pursue a death penalty," Bob Autobee said Wednesday. "In reality, it doesn't solve anything and obviously, it doesn't deter crime."
Edward Montour Jr., who was already serving a life sentence in the death of his 11-month-old daughter, is accused of killing Autobee's son, Eric, a corrections officer, in 2002.
"Edward Montour guilty plea ruling: David Lane on death penalty, James Holmes, 'bloody 18th,'" is by Michael Roberts at Westword.
At a February hearing, Edward Montour sought to withdraw his guilty plea for a 2002 murder in an effort to avoid the death penalty he'd previously sought. The office of 18th Judicial District DA George Brauchler, who's also seeking death for accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, argued against such a move, but a judge has now granted it; see his order below. Montour attorney David Lane sees the ruling as just and uses strong language to criticize capital punishment, Brauchler and what he calls the "bloody 18th."
And:
"What the Aurora theater victims don't understand is that this is the way of the death penalty. If Holmes is given life without parole, he would fade off into oblivion. He'd bounce back and forth between the state mental hospital and prison for their whole lives. But because they're seeking the death penalty, Holmes has no choice but to fight the case, and the victims will never get closure. By the time he's executed, there will be so many appeals, so many times when they have to go back to court and testify and re-live the nightmare. That's why the people in Arizona in the Gabby Giffords case said, 'Give Jared Loughner life without parole and it's over -- and no one has to worry about his conviction being overturned.'"
As Lane sees it, "Montour is illustrative of the problems with the death penalty. The case has probably already cost over a million in taxpayer dollars, and Brauchler is willing to spend any amount of money if that's what it takes to kill him. That's what's shocking about the bloody 18th."
Earlier coverage of the Colorado death penalty cases begins at the link.
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