Hickenlooper’s stance on death penalty will likely not affect Holmes trial

The death penalty was a focal point of Colorado’s gubernatorial race and though most Coloradans support the death penalty, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s stance against it did not wind up costing him re-election.

Hickenlooper granted an indefinite reprieve to death row inmate Nathan Dunlap last year. Dunlap was convicted in the 1993 Chuck E. Cheese massacre in Aurora. Hickenlooper has said he has no plans to revisit his decision.

But it raises questions about the impact on future death penalty cases, particularly the Aurora theater shooting case set to begin jury selection in January.

Retired political science professor Bob Loevy told KRDO NewsChannel 13 he does not believe Hickenlooper will impact the James Holmes trial because Hickenlooper only has one term left in office.

“I think Gov. Hickenlooper will probably stay right where he wants to be on the death penalty,” Loevy said. “That it will not be enforced while he is governor.”

Criminal defense attorney Josh Tolini agreed that Hickenlooper would likely not have an effect on Holmes’ fate. Tolini said it generally takes three or four years to get through the trial phase of a typical death penalty case then another 10 to 15 years in appeals.

Tolini also said that neither prosecutors nor the defense could argue Hickenlooper’s stance against the penalty when making a case.

“When you have a juror actually making the decision whether or not they’re actually going to participate in killing somebody, it’s been my experience that they take that very very seriously,” Tolini said. “They would hopefully try. Now, is that humanly possible? Probably not. But I think for the most part they would try to do that.”

Including Dunlap, Colorado has three inmates currently on death row. The state has executed just one inmate since 1997.