Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday that allows judges to deny bail to people charged with first-degree murder.
Amendment I, which was referred to the ballot by lawmakers last year, had 69% of the vote at 8:43 p.m. when The Associated Press called the race. It needed 55% of the vote to pass.Paste first two graphs
The amendment returns judges’ ability to deny bail to people who are charged with first-degree murder when there is enough evidence before trial to presume that the person will eventually be convicted.
The ballot measure was an effort to reverse an unintended consequence of a law passed in 2020 abolishing Colorado’s death penalty.
The Colorado constitution says only people who are charged with crimes punishable by the death penalty are ineligible for bail. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last year that since the death penalty was repealed, a judge cannot deny bail for any crimes, including first-degree murder.
If convicted of first-degree murder in Colorado, a person can be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Under Colorado law, a person may be charged with first-degree murder if:
- A person in a position of trust knowingly causes the death of someone younger than age 12.
- There is a premeditated intent to kill
- In situations when they show extreme indifference to human life while engaging in conduct that could knowingly end another person’s life and then results in death
- After providing a controlled substance to a child on school grounds who then dies after taking the drug
- A person in a position of trust knowingly causes the death of someone younger than age 12.