Death penalty sought in cop killing

A man accused in the killing of a Colorado Springs police officer during a drunken-driving traffic stop late last year will be on trial for his life.

As required by Colorado law, 4th Judicial District Attorney John Newsome filed a notice Friday with the court of his intent to seek the death penalty if Marco Lee is convicted of first-degree murder.

Lee, 25, was charged in the Dec. 4 shooting death of police officer Kenneth Jordan, one of two Colorado Springs officers killed in the line of duty in 2006.

Jordan was attempting to give Lee a roadside sobriety test on Fountain Boulevard on a bridge that spans Sand Creek. Lee fired several shots at Jordan, dropping him before he could draw his service revolver, officers testified at an earlier hearing. Lee, who was on probation for a felony eluding conviction, called a friend on his cell phone during the traffic stop and apologized, according to investigators.

Newsome cited six reasons, called aggravating factors, for seeking the death penalty:

- “Defendant intentionally killed a peace officer while such person was engaged in the course of the performance of such person’s official duties.”

- “The defendant committed the offense while lying in wait, from ambush.”

- “Defendant knowingly created a grave risk of death to another person,” referring to police officers John Garza and Joshua Hunter, who returned fire after being shot at.

- Jordan was killed “in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner.”

- The shooting occurred “for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest.”

- Lee’s possession of a handgun while on probation allegedly constituted a felony offense to commit another alleged felony offense, homicide.

Hunter and Garza testified that Lee repeatedly shot Jordan, even after Jordan was down — firing his .40-caliber semiautomatic Glock handgun nine times. Jordan was hit five times.

“He was not shooting because Ken was still a threat,” Hunter said at an earlier hearing. “He executed Ken, plain and simple.”

Lee was wounded in the gunbattle with Hunter and Garza after Jordan was shot.

The other officer killed in the line of duty was detective Jared Jensen, who was shot in the head Feb. 22, 2006, while attempting to arrest a suspected felon who was on parole at the time. Jereme Lamberth, 32, is set to stand trial in January on first-degree murder charges.

Newsome did not seek the death penalty in Lamberth’s case, in part, because Lamberth scored a 69 on an IQ test. Anyone below 70 is considered mentally retarded, and Colorado law prohibits executing the mentally retarded. Jensen’s widow, Natalie, also opposed the possibility of a death penalty.

Lee, who is being held without bond at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center, is due back in court Sept. 14. A trial date could be set at that time.

It’s Newsome’s first death penalty case since he took office in 2004.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0110 or dennis.huspeni@gazette.com