Centennial – Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that only juries, not judges, can impose it, invalidating Colorado’s three-judge sentencing system.
The case involves two inmates accused of stabbing another prisoner to death in 2004. David Bueno, 42, and Alejandro Perez, 28, have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jeffrey Heird at the Limon Correctional Facility. Heird was 38 when he was killed March 28, 2004.
District Attorney Carol Chambers of the 18th Judicial District declined to discuss specifics in the case, citing rules of professional conduct, but she did talk about aggravating circumstances in general regarding death-penalty cases.
“Unfortunately, there are trends which suggest we are going to have to use the death penalty much more often,” Chambers said Wednesday at a news conference.
“It used to be that people were not afraid to step up and talk to police, report crime and testify if needed,” Chambers said. “Unfortunately, we are finding more and more people who are afraid to do that.”
Chambers wouldn’t say whether Heird was a witness or an informant in prison.
“It has (those) ramifications, but I can’t tell you what they are,” she said.
There are currently two death-row inmates in Colorado: Nathan Dunlap, who murdered four people at a pizza parlor in Aurora in 1993, and Edward Montour Jr., who murdered a guard in the Limon prison in October 2002.
Both men are appealing their death sentences.
The last Colorado execution was in 1997.
Former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman said that death-penalty cases are hard to win and that lengthy appeal processes tend to discourage death-penalty filings.
“It is very difficult to obtain a death verdict and have it carried out in Colorado,” Silverman said. “Because of the time involved and the degree to which the Colorado defense bar appropriately fights against it, these cases require a massive expenditure of time, money and resources.”
Chambers’ office filed for the death penalty in the Heird case Friday.
Michael Ramirez, 33, is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the case, but he doesn’t face the death penalty. He was in prison for possession of drugs and a parole violation.
Bueno’s sentence for robbery and assault had been extended for smuggling contraband. Perez had been convicted of second-degree murder.
Staff writer Kieran Nicholson can be reached at 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
