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A bill that would have abolished the death penalty was amended and approved by the House Appropriations Committee this morning.
The measure would have eliminated capital punishment and used the savings from such an act to fund a cold case unit in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. But instead, it was amended to reduce the number of prosecutors working on death penalty cases to two, which is also the number of inmates currently on death row.From the AP:
Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, said the state could save millions of dollars yearly that is spent prosecuting and defending death penalty cases. He said the money could be better spent catching criminals still walking the streets.
The bill will go to the full House for debate, and then go on to the Senate if approved.
There is also another bill to create a cold case unit being sponsored by Rep. Joe Rice and Sen. John Morse, which does not include a provision to abolish the death penalty.
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