Aside from the morality and expense issues, there's the arbitrariness factor:

A study last year by the University of Denver law school — which was commissioned by Edward Montour's attorneys — found that while the death penalty was an option in 92 percent of Colorado's first-degree murders between 1999 and 2010, it was sought only 3 percent of the time.

All three inmates on Colorado's death row are African-American. All were tried and sentenced in Arapahoe county, where Aurora shooting suspect James Holmes is awaiting a decision on whether prosecutors will seek a death sentence.

Colorado has not executed anyone since Gary Davis in 1977. But Nathan Dunlap's time is drawing near. Last month, the Supreme Court denied his appeal, paving the way for prosecutors in Arapahoe county to file a motion for a death warrant.

According to state law, once prosecutors file their motion for a death warrant, [Judge] Sylvester would designate a week between 90 and 120 days out for the execution to take place. It would be up to the head of the Colorado Department of Corrections to pick the precise day and time.

Just today, three men who allegedly robbed a Denver bar in October, killing the owner and four employees and patrons and then setting the place on fire as a coverup, were bound over for trial in Denver. One woman was stabbed more