Colorado Roundup

AP posts, "Prosecutor in Nathan Dunlap case: Prepare for execution despite reprieve," by Dan Elliott.  It's via the Boulder Daily Camera.

Prosecutors asked a judge Monday to keep the case against convicted killer Nathan Dunlap active, in case a future governor decides to reinstate his death sentence.

Even though Gov. John Hickenlooper granted Dunlap a temporary reprieve last month, prosecutors want Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester to at least start considering any issues the defense planned to raise before the execution was halted.

"The issues that can be addressed should be addressed," prosecutor Matt Maillaro told Sylvester during a hearing Monday with lawyers in the case. Dunlap, convicted of killing four people in 1993 at a Chuck E. Cheese, didn't attend the proceeding.

Prosecutors want Sylvester to tell defense lawyers to file any motions they have in mind so they can be argued. The defense said that would be speculative and outside the court's power.

Defense attorney Phil Cherner said public standards are evolving, and the death penalty might someday be considered cruel and unusual punishment. It's "equally plausible" that whoever succeeds Hickenlooper will decide to keep the reprieve in place, he said.

Sylvester said he would issue a ruling soon.

The Daily Camera also publishes an OpEd, "Let's end the death penalty, not just kick the can," by Charlie Danaher.

Showing neither the conviction to allow Nathan Dunlap to be executed, nor that to support legislation that would have ended the death penalty in Colorado, Gov. Hickenlooper appears to have taken the easy out when he temporarily commuted Nathan Dunlap's execution. But at least he spared Dunlap's life, and, perhaps, before our state puts another person to death, we can have a real discussion about the legitimacy of capital punishment.

In any argument opposing capital punishment, it is extremely important that we be sensitive to the family and loved ones of those killed. Opposing the death penalty does not, in any shape or form, suggest that the actions of the killers are anything less than horrific.

There are several reasons to not kill Nathan Dunlap. Or anyone else, for that matter.

As we review the reasons, let's keep in mind the four purposes of punishment: Rehabilitation; Defense against the criminal; Deterrence; and Retribution.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.