January 30, 1998
The Denver Post
Used with Permission
A second bill attempting to add "hate crimes" to the list of aggravating factors in capital punishment cases was defeated Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee.
Committee members voted 8-5 to kill HB 1135 by Rep. Dan Grossman, D-Denver. Several of them explained that the bill duplicated provisions of an omnibus crime bill passed earlier.
The earlier bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeanne Adkins, R-Parker, specifically defined murders based on race, religion or ethnicity as aggravating factors.
Grossman's bill instead would have cross-referenced the existing and separate "hate crimes" law, thus enabling the conditions to be updated as the law changed. Other legislation this year will attempt to add sexual preference and disability, for example, to the elements defining such crimes.
"The statute isn't static," Grossman said.
But Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, and other committee members said they were satisfied with the Adkins bill.
Aggravating factors are weighed against mitigating factors by the three-judge panels that decide death-penalty cases.
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