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Colorado

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jayschool

(180 posts)
Fri Aug 21, 2015, 10:21 AM Aug 2015

Does Colorado's death penalty have a race problem? (Hint: Yes) [View all]

James Holmes killed more people during his movie theater massacre than Nathan Dunlap, Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray combined. Dunlap, Owens and Ray, all of whom are black, are on death row. Holmes, who is white, will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Why?

The three jurors—two wavering, one resolute—who chose to spare Holmes’ life reportedly did so because of his mental illness, not his race. Attorney Forrest “Boogie” Lewis, who defended Dunlap in 1996, said, “It is folly to speculate on the motivation of individual jurors in such emotional, complex cases.”

Still, on the day of the Holmes verdict, Colorado state Rep. Jovan Melton tweeted, “Today’s verdict proves again that the Death Penalty is arbitrary. Only people on Death row in CO are Black. It has no place in CO.”

http://cunewscorps.com/3561/showcase/does-colorados-death-penalty-have-a-race-problem/

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