New bill would abolish state's death penalty, move funds to cold-cases

DENVER • Monique LaSuer, a hotel auditor in Colorado Springs, was beaten and strangled to death in 2000. Her killer was never found.

But if a Democratic bill is successful, the investigation into her murder could gain new life.

The bill, introduced in the state House of Representatives on Monday, would abolish the state's death penalty and direct an estimated $4 million in savings to cold-case investigations.

"I just wish the representatives knew that these murderers are out there living in their neighborhoods," said Gail LaSuer, Monique's mother. "Killing one person on death row is nothing if all these other killers are out there."

The last time Colorado executed a death row inmate was 1998, when murderer and rapist Gary Lee Davis was put to death by lethal injection. The are two killers now on death row awaiting execution.

The bill's sponsor, House Majority Leader Paul Weissman, said he isn't interested in arguing the morality of the death penalty. Instead, he believes it's a waste of precious resources that could go toward solving pending crimes.

"It's an economic (argument). It costs us a whole lot of money to have something that we don't use," Weissman said.

He said he agrees that there are crimes that deserve death, including a killing in Castle Rock in which a man dragged his girlfriend behind his pickup for two miles.

"Your gut reaction is, yeah, drag (him) behind a truck for two miles until he dies, too. But the bottom line is we don't do that in our society," Weissman said. "Maybe solving some of those crimes is a bigger bang for the buck than having this death penalty that we don't use."

A similar measure that he sponsored in 2007 died with several Democrats opposing it.
Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, said the bill will be a "tough sell" because no one wants to appear soft on crime.

Though LaSuer has met with several lawmakers to recruit their support, Judiciary Committee member Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, said Monday he won't vote for it. Other Republicans, including Sen. Dave Schultheis of Colorado Springs and Rep. Carole Murray of Castle Rock, also said they'll vote against the bill.

"I know the sense of the people, and they want the death penalty and they're frustrated that we don't utilize it more," Schultheis said.