"Supreme" Courts

I have now lived and worked here in Colorado for 25 years. Over that time, we have had various death penalty statutes, but we have never really had a death penalty. Over this time we have had a parade of killers condemned only to have their sentences altered by the courts. The one killer that pleaded to have his sentence carried out ultimately changed his mind, continued his appeals and died of natural causes.

This week saw the continuation of that practice by our State Courts. Robert Harlan, convicted kidnapper, rapist and killer saw his death penalty overturned. From all accounts, the State Supreme Court would like to set very specific rules on how jurors exercise their moral judgment in these types of cases. Jurors can know the bible and apply it to their own judgment. They just cannot bring it in to the deliberation room and assure themselves or others of their own knowledge.

Many want to believe that this is a conservative state, and in many ways that may be true. Unfortunately, for many years the people of this state chose to balance a conservative legislature with more liberal Govenors. Now the legacy of those Govenors lives on in our courts. Whether it is at the state or federal levels we need to recognize that the executive and legislative branches of government play specific roles. If we simply choose to use one to thwart the other, we find ourselves in the position we have been in for more than a quarter century here in Colorado. We find ourselves with a judiciary that simply refuses to enforce the will of the people and takes away the people's voice.