People convicted of felony murder in Colorado would no longer face a mandatory sentence of life without parole under a bill passed by the state legislature this week and sent to Gov. Jared Polis for his signature.
Under the state’s current law, a defendant can be convicted of felony murder if a person is killed during the commission of a felony — including arson, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, escape or sexual assault — even if they weren’t the one directly responsible for the victim’s death.
Senate Bill 21-124, which, if signed by Polis, will take effect Sept. 15, would do away with the mandatory life sentence by making felony murder a Class 2 felony instead of Class 1. The sentencing range for Class 2 felonies is eight to 24 years, though if it’s a crime of violence, that range changes to 16 to 48 years.
Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the punishment should fit the crime and the individual’s guilt.
“Felony murder was striking with a broad sword,” Lee said. “It would give life without (parole) regardless of culpability, so I wanted to put felony murder in a category where the sentence could be proportional to the culpability of the person who committed the offense.”
Lee explained that a majority of felony murder cases involve young men of color who are typically of low income. Adolescent brains do not have a fully developed prefrontal cortex, which impacts impulse control and sensation-seeking. Additionally, Lee said young men are heavily influenced by their peers, resulting in criminal actions that they may not have done as individuals.
“Kids that do… felony, fatal, stupid things when they’re 16, 17, 18, 21 years old are not the same people that they will be when they’re 30, 40, 50 years old,” Lee said. “We’re no longer throwing away people who are redeemable.”
If signed, the new bill will only impact people charged with felony murder after the law takes effect and will not change the sentences of defendants who already have been convicted.
That includes 19-year-old Kenneth Gallegos, who was convicted by an Arapahoe County jury of first-degree felony murder on April 9. He and three others were involved in a vape sale that resulted in the death of 18-year-old Lloyd Chavez IV. He did not bring the gun, nor did he commit the murder, but he is facing a life sentence.
Gallegos’ defense attorney Mike Root said people are going to be treated “drastically different” if this law goes into effect.
“A 40-year-old guy with a bad criminal history who was the shooter in a felony murder in the future can ask for 16 years,” Root said. “(Kenneth Gallegos), a juvenile who wasn’t the shooter, with no criminal history, is looking at the rest of his life in prison.”
During Gallegos’s trial, Root said members of the jury sent a written question to the judge asking whether jury nullification was a possibility — something he had not seen requested in his 39 years of practice.
Jury nullification is the idea that jurors can disregard the law and make a decision based on morality when they believe the law is unjust.
“It’s just outrageous, it’s just so unfair,” Root said of the life sentence his client faces. “This is not lessening the tragedy of the death of Mr. Chavez. That is a horrible, horrible thing, but that doesn’t mean that the persons who are accused don’t deserve to be treated fairly.”
Prosecutors dismissed charges against two of Gallegos’s co-defendants, but a fourth person, Demarea Mitchell, who is accused of being the gunman, is scheduled to stand trial July 13 on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery.
Lee, who has been working toward this change for four years, said the present legislation is unjust and disproportional.
The newly passed bill, he said, will push the criminal justice system to become better.
“This is a product of an evolving culture and an evolving ethic and consequently an evolving criminal justice system,” Lee said.
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