It was a foregone conclusion that Gov. Jared Polis would sign a bill this week repealing the death penalty in Colorado, but what he did next came as a gut-punch to Democratic state Sen. Rhonda Fields. After signing the legislation Monday, the governor, a Democrat, went a step further by commuting the sentences of the state’s three death row inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole — including the two men convicted of killing Ms. Fields’ son Javad Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe. For Ms. Fields, who for nine years has led the legislative battle against her fellow Democrats pushing to eliminate capital punishment in the state, said the commutations represented “the unthinkable bait and switch.” “In a stroke of a pen Gov Polis hijacks justice and undermines our criminal justice system,” Ms. Fields tweeted. The law goes into effect July 1, so it does not apply to inmates already convicted and sentenced to death, or even to those who have been charged with capital offenses. In that case, why commute the sentences? Mr. Polis said his decision was not based on evidence of “extraordinary change” in the three offenders: Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray, who were convicted of murder in the 2005 deaths of Fields and Wolfe; and Nathan Dunlap, who carried out the 1993 Chuck E. Cheese massacre. “Rather, the commutations of these despicable and guilty individuals are consistent with the abolition of the death penalty in the state of Colorado and consistent with the recognition that the death penalty cannot be, and never has been, administered equitably in the state of Colorado,” Mr. Polis said

Most of us here in sunny Colorado are furious about what Gov. Jared Polis (D) has done with respect to the death penalty here.  It’s so bad, that a Democrat State Senator, Rhonda Fields, is even pissed off.  Colorado used to be a purple state, politically.  But, now the extreme Boulder liberals control all three branches at the state capital in Denver.  And, this is what happens when Dems are in control.  They get rid of the death penalty and commute the sentences of duly convicted and sentenced (by the people) murderers, impose so-called “Red Flag” laws on law-abiding gun owners, raise taxes, and on and on.  Hopefully enough Coloradans will come to their senses and throw some of these Democrat legislators out on their butts in November.