James Holmes, suspect in the Aurora theater shootings is facing the death penalty. If Holmes is found guilty of multiple counts of murder, attempted murder and a number of other criminal charges it is very likely he will be sentenced to death by lethal injection.
Three other criminals are waiting their fate on death row. Nathan Dunlap has been waiting for twenty years and the Supreme Court recently denied his last appeal. Dunlap is remembered for shooting five people and stealing $1500 at a Chuck E. Cheese kid’s restaurant in Aurora, Colorado in 1993. At this time there is no date set for his execution.
Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray are also on death row. After a heavily publicized investigation, trial and sentencing for the murders of Javad Marshall-Field and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe in 2007 both Owens and Ray were found guilty and were sentenced to death.
The death of her son bolstered a political career for Javad Marshall-Fields’ mother, Colorado Representative Rhonda Fields. Rep. Fields is a heavy handed anti gun activist but is not yet willing to back the repeal of the death penalty unless it is approved by the voters.
House Bill 1264 addressed the repeal of the death penalty in Colorado. This year brought a hard fought debate and on Tuesday, March 26th, the House Judiciary Committee voted to postpone indefinitely the bill to abolish the death penalty.
The death sentences of Dunlap, Owens, Ray and potentially James Holmes are subject to the law at the time of their date of execution.
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