Colorado repealed the death penalty in March 2020, though not for the first time. The state was one of the first to abolish capital punishment in the late 19th century, but it was reintroduced just four years later. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia invalidated death penalty laws as written, but Colorado was among more than three dozen states to revamp its statutes and have the punishment reinstated.

The most recent repeal was accompanied by three controversial commutations. When signing the bill to repeal capital punishment, Gov. Jared Polis also commuted the sentences of Colorado’s three remaining death row inmates to life in prison. The decision prompted objections from an outspoken district attorney and a state lawmaker whose son died at the hands of two of the condemned men. Meanwhile, criminal defense lawyers, and even a few prosecutors, celebrated the news. Read the full story here.