The death-penalty phase of a trial is underway in Centennial, and a dealth-penalty case is just beginning in Denver. Colorado clearly is having the conversation about capital punishment that Gov. John Hickenlooper sought when he granted a death-row inmate a reprieve.

But how much Hickenlooper contributed to the discussion is still up for debate.

What is not contested is that Colorado has long been reluctant to impose the death penalty. Only one person has been executed in nearly 50 years, and only three inmates are sitting on death row.

That could change, though.

An Arapahoe County jury this month found James Holmes guilty of the Aurora theater massacre and now is deliberating whether to sentence him to life or death.

A Denver County jury on Monday began hearing testimony in the trial of Dexter Lewis, who is charged with killing five people at Fero’s Bar & Grill. A second person in the case could also face the death penalty.

Denver District Judge John Madden agreed to allow the media to film opening and closing arguments in the Lewis trial, despite protests by the prosecution and defense.

The judge said he thought the coverage would provide a contribution to the governor’s call for the community to engage in a meaningful consideration of the death penalty, a discussion he does not believe is underway despite publicity over Holmes’ trial.

But others say Hickenlooper’s call for a conversation led to the formation of the Better Priorities Initiative, aimed at ending the death penalty, and a series on capital punishment at both the Denver Seminary and the Iliff School of Theology.

Among the events at the seminary are workshops in October looking at the pros and cons of capital punishment from a “biblical and theological perspective.”

“The governor felt the faith community needed to be a vital part of the conversation,” said the Rev. Jim Ryan, the former director of the Colorado Council of Churches.

Hickenlooper believes the conversation started in earnest two years ago with testimony during the 2013 session on a bill to repeal the death penalty. The Democratic-sponsored bill died after the Democratic governor indicated he didn’t support it because he thought the issue should be raised with the people and not just with their elected representatives.

The issue exploded that May when Hickenlooper granted an indefinite reprieve to death- row inmate Nathan Dunlap, who killed four people and wounded a fifth two decades earlier.

The decision did not affect the other two on death row, Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray, who were convicted in the 2005 murder of two people who were going to testify at a trial. Any execution date that the pair may face, pending the exhaustion of all their appeals, is years away.

“It is likely that my decision in this case will continue the intense conversation Coloradans are having about the death penalty,” Hickenlooper wrote in his executive order granting Dunlap the reprieve.

At the time, Hickenlooper said he would lead the discussion in town halls and statewide talks with local leaders.

“I’m not aware that’s happened, and I think I would have been aware of it,” Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman, D-Denver, said in a recent interview.

“What kind of conversation was Lucia looking for? What kind of conversation was she expecting?” Hickenlooper asked.

Kelly Maher, executive director of the conservative Compass Colorado, doesn’t believe Hickenlooper lived up to his promise.

“He has yet to hold a single meeting about the issue, much less a statewide conversation,” she said. “The loudest sound coming from the governor on this critical topic is a deafening silence.”

That’s in contrast, some believe, to Hickenlooper’s efforts on oil-and-gas issues, where a task force was formed and met statewide after measures were pulled from the ballot.

Hickenlooper countered he has explained his position on the death penalty plenty in the last two years — including during his tough re-election bid in 2014 — and has received lots of feedback.

“People said they appreciated the conversation,” he said.

Attorney Phil Cherner, who was on Dunlap’s appeal team, agreed that the death penalty was a hot topic during Hickenlooper’s race against Republican Bob Beauprez, but said at other times it hasn’t been.

“Some days the death penalty is closer to the front page than others,” Cherner said.

Only Thursday morning, Hickenlooper lamented that one problem with death-penalty cases — which can string out for years, as Dunlap’s did — is that “you create two-bit celebrities out of killers and a platform for copy-cat behavior.”

“Cases go on forever,” Hickenlooper said. “Footage is pulled back up.”

Just hours after the interview, a gunman opened fire in a Louisiana movie theater, killing two before killing himself. News stories mentioned the 2012 Aurora theater shooting; footage compared pictures of the gunmen.

Hickenlooper also pointed to Nebraska’s decision in May to override its governor’s veto and repeal the death penalty. Conservatives there opposed capital punishment for religious, financial and practical reasons, making Nebraska the 19th state to ban capital punishment.

Guzman opposes the death penalty even though her father was murdered.

“I have never felt that it helps to kill someone who kills someone,” she said.

Crime is also personal for Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora. It was her son, Javad Marshall-Fields, and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe, who were gunned down in Aurora as they were set to testify in a pending murder case.

Although a death-penalty ban would not be retroactive, Fields believes outlawing capital punishment would make it easier for a governor to commute the sentence of her son’s killers to life in prison.

“One of the fears I’ve had was after all that I went through, the trials, the juries, there was a lot of investigative work pursued for Javad and Vivian, and to have that undone, it would be difficult for me to bear that,” she said.

Death row

The number of inmates on death row in various states:

Alabama: 201

Arizona: 124

Colorado: 3

Louisiana: 85

Oregon: 36

Tennessee: 73

Utah: 9

Wyoming: 1

Source: BetterPriorities.org