A lawmaker recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq is anticipating more combat over his effort to impose the death penalty on those who brutally rape children 12 and younger.

It would join first-degree murder, kidnapping resulting in death and treason as the only crimes punishable by death in Colorado.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1977 ruled the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment for convicted rapists but left the window open for states to impose the ultimate punishment on those who brutally rape children.

Six other states since have passed laws similar to the one the Littleton Republican proposes. A challenge to Louisiana's version is set for a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court.

State Sen. Steve Ward said Monday he began drafting the legislation last spring when he heard about Kennedy vs. Louisiana, in which 43-year-old Patrick Kennedy, of suburban New Orleans, was sentenced to death after having been convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Kennedy is challenging the constitutionality of a 1995 Louisiana law making aggravated rape a capital crime.

"The goal is to put the issue in play in Colorado," Ward said.

Under current Colorado law, those convicted of raping a child 15 or younger must serve four years to life in prison, with a parole board freeing them only after they have demonstrated they are no longer a threat to society.

Those rapists must spend at least eight years in prison if, during their sexual assault, they also applied force against their victim, threatened their victim or committed a pattern of sexual assault.

Ward's bill would mandate the death penalty or life in prison for a new crime called "aggravated sexual assault on a child" for that second, more serious class of rape, in cases where the child was 12 or younger.

Ward said he is aware his bill could become a lightning rod. But he insists he is putting it forward because it's good policy and not because he is running this year to replace U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, also a Republican, in Congress.

He recalled a town meeting in May that he held with Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, where someone started "railing" against the death penalty. "I said, 'Well, then you're not going to like this - one of my bills next session will institute the death penalty for people that rape children under 12 years old,' " Ward recalled.

Ward said the room of mostly Democrats fell silent. But as they thought about it, he said, most agreed the bill was a good idea.

"Even with people who are generally opposed to the death penalty, you find support for the death penalty in these cases," Ward said.

Rice, who, as Ward did, recently returned from a military mission in Iraq, is co-sponsoring the bill. He too said it's a matter of good public policy.

"These are crimes against very vulnerable people and crimes that show there's very little chance of rehabilitation," Rice said. "I think it is obviously a very controversial bill and has a lot of pros and cons. But when I talked to a lot of folks in the district and a lot of people in general, if there's one case where it may be appropriate, this is certainly one of those most compelling."

Ward said he deliberated long and hard and decided only Friday - a filing deadline - to go forward with the bill after being reassured of not only Rice's support but that of Sen. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont.

Shaffer's backing is crucial because he leads the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is where the bill will be heard first.

"I personally believe there are certain circumstances where the death penalty is warranted, and I believe this is one of them," Shaffer said. "I don't take this subject lightly, but this is about as heinous of a crime as we see in modern-day society."

He added, however, that while the bill is straightforward in concept it promises to be a complicated and potentially expensive law to carry out.

Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, opposes expanding the death penalty in any way - not just because he morally opposes the sentence, he said, but because death penalty cases are a huge drain on the state's criminal justice system.

"The bottom line is in Colorado, two times in my lifetime we've carried out the death penalty," Weissmann said. "We spend millions of dollars for a sentence we never use. Now if we expand the number of cases that qualify for the death penalty, we'll be spending even more money for cases that are never carried out."

Weissmann has sponsored legislation banning the death penalty in Colorado each year he has served. It died last year after district attorneys argued they needed the law to effectively prosecute and deter crime. Gov. Bill Ritter, who tried several death penalty cases as Denver's district attorney, opposes Weissmann's bill as well.

Weissmann and others predicted that one of Ward's biggest hurdles will be getting his bill past the House Appropriations Committee - if it makes it that far.

Contact Chris Barge at bargec@RockyMountainNews.com  or  303-954-5059

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