If the District Attorney of the 18th Judicial District can convince enough jurors to agree with her, those numbers may change.
Of the seven defendants in the state facing prosecutions in which the death penalty remains a serious option, six are in the 18th Judicial District headed by Carol Chambers. Her district includes Arapahoe, Douglas, Lincoln and Elbert Counties.
Monday, jury selection began in the capital murder case of Sir Mario Owens in the Arapahoe County courthouse. It could take one to two weeks to seat a jury. Owens is accused in the killing of Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancée Vivian Wolfe back in 2005. (Click here to read more about this case.)
"With one exception (Colorado prosecutors) just aren't seeking the death penalty very much," said University of Colorado Law Professor H. Patrick Furman.
Furman says support for the death penalty in Colorado and across the country has been on the decline for years.
"I think we're concerned about innocence, and I think jurors are worried about it being used fairly," he said. "I think the number one reason is that we have now freed over 100 members of death rows who were actually innocent."
Kathleen Walsh, spokesperson for Chambers' office, did not want to talk specifics now that a death penalty case is underway.
In general terms however, she says, "The District Attorney reviews every first degree murder case... to determine whether or not to seek the death penalty. The DA reviews the facts of the murder cases to see if the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigators."
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