Yesterday, I predicted that the Colorado Senate vote on a bill to eliminate the death penalty in the state wouldn't be a nail biter, Senator Morgan Carroll's suggestions to the contrary. But her command of math proved far superior to mine. In the end, the measure fell just one vote shy.
Howard Morton and other members of his non-profit Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons organization, whose campaign to shift death-penalty funding to investigate cold cases has been covered thoroughly in this space, were reportedly disappointed by the outcome, and that's understandable. But the closeness of the final tally actually bodes well for the measure in future legislative sessions. Despite a brilliant political maneuver earlier this week that essentially gutted the bill, it came closer to passage than anticipated by most folks other than Carroll. Along the way, plenty of resistance was chipped away -- and that could make success next time around more likely.
Granted, I'm not guaranteeing anything -- but that's just as well. Clearly, I suck at predictions.
