That's the title of an essay at Huffington Post written by Justin F. Marceau and Megan Healy. He's an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Denver, and Healy is a law student at the school. Here's the beginning:
One of the claims that proponents of the death penalty often cling to, when faced with mounting evidence and data about the high costs and inequalities inherent in capital punishment, is that it provides a sense of closure to the families of the victims. Bob Autobee, whose son was killed eleven years ago, explained in a recent letter to District Attorney George Brauchler that the needless, expensive, and prolonged pursuit of the death penalty in his son's case has actually denied him the closure he's sought for over a decade.
Mr. Autobee painstakingly explained to the prosecutor that his family's grieving has been made much worse "not [because of] what Mr. Montour did," or because of a delayed execution, but by the prosecution's tireless pursuit of the death penalty against the Autobee family's wishes. The pursuit of execution in this and other cases across Colorado carries huge costs, both in taxpayer dollars and in emotional toll on victims. In the words of Mr. Autobee, a grieving father, "Enough is enough."
Earlier coverage from Colorado begins with additional news of the Autobee family.
Brauchler is also pursuing the death penalty against James Holmes, and has talked of challenging Colorado Govenor John Hickenlooper because of the reprieve Hickenlooper issued in another Colorado death penalty case.
Comments