The 3 judges must agree unanimously before the death penalty can be imposed. Further, Colorado's law mandates that each judge's vote be made public. That puts political pressure on judges, who must go before voters to be retained, critics contend. I don't know any judge that takes an issue like this lightly. Defense lawyer Lane predicts more executions.
Lane points to Florida, where judges can override a jury's decision.
Judges overrode life-sentence recommendations by juries and ordered defendants to be executed in 75 cases, Lane said. By comparison, judges overrode the jury's recommendation of a death sentence in only 4 instances. Grant acknowledges that more Colorado inmates may wind up on death row. Prosecutors will try for a 4th time to convict a multiple murder suspect and make it stick. The fourth trial of Andre Minnitt starts today in a triple homicide case that has been fraught with mistrials and reversals.