Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Colorado juries leery of death penalty

Excerpt:
Denver prosecutor Verna Carpenter previously said the district attorney's office did not seek the death penalty against Phillips because of the potential impact on Chandler's brother, Dominic.

"The main factor in our decision was whether we wanted to make Dominic participate in a prosecution where his father could be put to death," Carpenter said.

From Rocky Mountain News

By Julie Poppen

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

It would not be hard to find people seeking the ultimate revenge against Jon Phillips, convicted Tuesday of starving to death his own stepson.

The case against Phillips could have been a death penalty case. But in Colorado, the sentiment sways against an eye for an eye, legal experts say. There are only two people on death row in the state, compared with hundreds awaiting execution in Texas.

"Denver County jurors are perhaps the most reluctant in the entire state to actually vote for the death penalty," said legal analyst and trial lawyer Scott Robinson. "Our state in recent years has been a state which prosecutors have difficulty getting the ultimate sanction of death imposed."

Former Chief Denver Deputy District Attorney Craig Silverman said the case against Phillips is "not the sort of situation where the death penalty is generally sought or obtained in Colorado."

"Even though this crime was horrific, Phillips did not have any felony history and this case was not charged as murder after deliberation," said Silverman, who prosecuted Denver's last death penalty case.

Frank Rodriguez was sentenced to death for the 1984 murder, kidnapping, torture and rape of 55-year-old bookkeeper Lorraine Martelli. He died in 2002 before the sentence could be carried out.

Inserting the death penalty into a case can affect a jury's willingness to convict.

Denver prosecutor Verna Carpenter previously said the district attorney's office did not seek the death penalty against Phillips because of the potential impact on Chandler's brother, Dominic.

"The main factor in our decision was whether we wanted to make Dominic participate in a prosecution where his father could be put to death," Carpenter said.

© Rocky Mountain News

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