Colorado becomes 22nd US state to abolish death penalty

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Colorado becomes 22nd US state to abolish death penalty

Colorado Governor Jared Polis today signed a bill to repeal the death penalty and commuted the sentences of three men on death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole

AFP pic 

WASHINGTON, March 24 — Colorado has abolished the death penalty, becoming the 22nd US state to repeal the punishment. Governor Jared Polis today signed a bill to repeal the death penalty and commuted the sentences of three men on death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Polis said the commutations “of these despicable and guilty individuals are consistent with the abolition of the death penalty in the State of Colorado, and consistent with the recognition that the death penalty cannot be, and never has been, administered equitably in the State of Colorado.”

Colorado has only carried out one execution since the death penalty was reinstated by the US Supreme Court in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.

Gary Lee Davis was put to death in 1997 by lethal injection for the 1986 rape and murder of a neighbour.

Colorado lawmakers in February approved the bill to repeal the death penalty, overcoming fierce opposition from Republicans who tried to stall the vote, including by reading from the Bible.

Wikipedia:

In the four canonical gospels, Jesus is tried and condemned by the Sanhedrin

Sanhedrin were assemblies of either twenty-three or seventy-one elders appointed to sit as a tribunal in every city in the ancient Land of Israel

Joseph ben Caiaphas, known simply as Caiaphas in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest who, according to the gospels, organized a plot to kill Jesus. He famously presided over the Sanhedrin trial of JesusJesus is mocked and beaten and condemned for various accusations, violating the Sabbath law (by healing on the Sabbath), threatening to destroy the Jewish Temple, sorcery, exorcising people by the power of demons and claiming to be both the Messiah and the Son of God

“While I understand that some victims agree with my decision and others disagree, I hope this decision provides clarity and certainty for them moving forward,” Polis said in a statement.

“The decision to commute these sentences was made to reflect what is now Colorado law, and done after a thorough outreach process to the victims and their families.”

Colorado District Attorney George Brauchler was among those criticising the abolition.

“There are a few in Colorado today who will cheer the sparing of the lives of these cold-blooded murderers,” he said in a statement.

God tells Adam "But of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for on the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die."

According to the Talmud, this verse is a death penalty.

The death that Adam and Eve experienced when they ate the forbidden fruit was immediate separation from God.

They also experienced physical death for their disobedient act. Though it was not immediate, it still was a result from their disobedience of God. The Lord promised:

"In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of dust you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return"
(Genesis 3:19)

The physical death was postponed due to God's grace but the spiritual death was immediate.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other death penalty abolitionists welcomed the move.

“In all the madness we are living under, here is some terrific news. Colorado has now officially abolished the death penalty,” ACLU justice division director Udi Ofer said on Twitter.

“While we still need to get death row cleared, CO (Colorado) will no longer kill people as punishment,” Ofer said.

“Alleluia! I’m celebrating the citizen activists of Colorado who... steadily changed hearts and minds to arrive at this life-affirming day,” anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean tweeted.

States around the US have been re-examining their use of the death penalty.

Chabad Numbers 15:32–3

When the children of Israel were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood presented him before Moses and Aaron and before the entire congregation. They put him under guard, since it was not specified what was to be done to him.

The Lord said to Moses, The man shall be put to death; the entire congregation shall pelt him with stones outside the camp.

So the entire congregation took him outside the camp, and they pelted him to death with stones, as the Lord had commanded Moses

... or a tsunami or famine or Covid-19

New Hampshire abolished it completely in 2019 and California’s governor last year declared a moratorium on executions as long as he is in office.

“Colorado’s action exemplifies the trend we are seeing in states across the country, which is a continuing movement away from capital punishment, first in practice, then in law,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

“That is not a surprise. Public support for capital punishment has been thinning and is near a generation low. America’s views of criminal justice have experienced a sea change and in state legislatures, the issue has become increasingly bipartisan.” — AFP

Chabad, 1 Kings

Then Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of the Baal; let no one of them escape."

They seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and there he slaughtered them