Officer Thomas Campagna, a 12-year veteran of the Aurora Police Department and first responder at the theater, arrives to testify in court during day three in James Holmes’ trial at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial, April 29, 2015. The trial of Colorado theater gunman suspect, James Holmes, began nearly three years after the massacre. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
Re: “Plea deal would have spared much agony in Aurora theater shooting trial,” May 10 letter to the editor.
Letter-writer Betsy Duvall stated that accepting a plea deal would have helped avoid the human toll on survivors and the jurors of the James Holmes trial. And though I believe Holmes should absolutely be put to death for his actions, I can see why some wanted the plea deal.
Then I read that the second of three men who in 1976 buried a bus full of California school children alive may get out on parole. They had been sentenced to life without parole.
One of the arguments against the death penalty is that life in prison without parole will put criminals away forever and they will never be a threat to society again. Now we have appeals courts, years after a trial, changing sentencing and allowing people who were sentenced to life to get paroled. If this is the criminal justice we want, then we’re going to get what we deserve.
M. Jackson, Aurora
This letter was published in the May 17 edition.
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