DENVER—A Republican state senator wants to amend the Colorado Constitution to bar plea deals that allow illegal immigrants to avoid deportation, taking a swipe at Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter for a plea deal he made when he was Denver district attorney.
The measure from Sen. Ted Harvey of Highlands Ranch, which was released Tuesday, would ask voters to approve a constitutional ban on such deals.
It would bar courts from accepting guilty pleas to charges of trespassing on agricultural land—the count Ritter agreed to—or any other charge that would allow suspects to avoid deportation.
Courts could accept such deals if prosecutors don’t have a strong case for a more serious charge and the deal isn’t intended to help the defendant avoid deportation.
Ritter was criticized during the 2006 campaign for letting an illegal immigrant who was charged with heroin possession plead guilty to agricultural trespassing instead. The man avoided deportation and was later accused of a sex crime in California.
The information turned up in a campaign ad for Ritter’s Republican opponent, then-U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez. It made headlines again last week when Cory Voorhis, a federal immigration agent who gave Beauprez the information, was acquitted on charges getting it illegally from a federal crime database.
Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said Republican and Democratic prosecutors alike have made such plea deals.
“Sen. Harvey should check with his Republican district attorneys who have also used that charge,” Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said.
If those prosecutors have made such deals, Harvey said his proposed ban would apply to them too.
With Democrats in control of both houses of the Legislature, Harvey’s proposal has an uphill fight to even get on a statewide ballot.
The measure would first have get the backing of the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee, which is usually the most partisan panel in the chamber. It would then have to win two-thirds approval in both the House and Senate.
No committee hearing date has been set yet.
Harvey said he was also taking aim at what he said is an effort by Denver to become a “sanctuary city” and protect illegal immigrants.
“This is an effort to highlight that,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Mayor John Hickenlooper did not immediately return a call but has previously denied similar charges.
Harvey is one of three Republicans running for Congress, hoping to replace Rep. Tom Tancredo, who is retiring.
