A day after a House committee rejected a bill to repeal the death penalty, state Rep. Rhonda Fields killed her own measure asking voters to decide in 2014 whether to abolish the death penalty.

The Aurora Democrat admitted that her bill was a strategic counter to the proposal to abolish the death penalty.

"I don't think the death penalty should be repealed," Fields said.

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Two of the three men sitting on Colorado's death row were convicted of killing Fields' son. Fields said she feared that if the bill to repeal the death penalty had succeeded, it would have given the governor and others motivation to commute the death sentences of her son's killers to life in prison.

The House Local Government Committee, which Fields chairs, honored her request to kill House Bill 1270.

"This is not something that will go away tomorrow or next year," said Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont. "We'll continue to struggle with this ethically and legislatively."

One of the arguments against the death penalty is that it disproportionately impacts minorities, especially blacks. But Fields, who is black, said that line of reasoning doesn't sway her.

"The death penalty has nothing to do with race," she said. "It has everything to do with murder and accountability for crimes committed."

Her son, Javad Marshall-Fields, and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe, were gunned down while driving in Aurora in 2005. The two were set to testify in a pending murder case. Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray are both on Colorado's death row for their involvement in the murders.


The House Judiciary Committee voted 6-4 Tuesday to kill the bill repealing the death penalty. Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, said she had the votes to pass House Bill 1264 out of committee and the House until Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper last week expressed his concerns about the bill, and brought up a veto.