The death penalty has been banned in Colorado and commuted the sentences for three killers already on death row.

On Monday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill blocking capital punishment for defendants convicted on or after July 1. It is the 22nd state to do so.

The bill states that this order will not commute or alter the sentence of a defendant convicted of an offense charged prior to that date — so instead he commuted their sentences individually.

“Commutations are typically granted to reflect evidence of extraordinary change in the offender. That is not why I am commuting these sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Rather, the commutations of these despicable and guilty individuals are consistent with the abolition of the death penalty in the State of Colorado, and consistent with the recognition that the death penalty cannot be, and never has been, administered equitably in the State of Colorado,” Polis said in a statement.

The men whose sentences he commuted were Sir Mario Owens, Robert Ray and Nathan Dunlap.

Dunlap shot and killed four employees at a Chuck E. Cheese and injured another as revenge for being fired from the restaurant five months prior. He was scheduled to be executed in 2013, but was granted a temporary reprieve by then-Governor John Hickenlooper.

Ray was sentenced to death for ordering the 2005 murder of Javad Marshall Fields and his fiancee Vivian Wolfe. Fields had planned to testify against Ray for murdering a man named Gregory Vann.

Owens is the one who murdered Fields and Wolfe on the orders of Ray. He also shot Vann in the earlier killing.

Field’s mother Rhonda is now a Democrat state senator and blasted the governor’s decision not to execute her son’s killers.  She said that he “wiped away” the decision of the jurors.

“This is a sad day because justice was hijacked and our justice system was undermined,” she said. “He’s made his decision, so I guess I have to live through that just like I had to live with the death of my son.”

The governor’s statement acknowledged that some victims disagreed with his decision, but made no apologies.

“While I understand that some victims agree with my decision and others disagree, I hope this decision provides clarity and certainty for them moving forward. The decision to commute these sentences was made to reflect what is now Colorado law, and done after a thorough outreach process to the victims and their families,” the Governor continued.

District Attorney George Brauchler also slammed the governor’s decision and the fact that he did it during the coronavirus pandemic when people are less likely to be paying attention.

“The decision to do it during a global pandemic is disrespectful to the victims, the jurors and the public. It is not leadership, but weakness and political opportunism,” said Brauchler.

The killers will now serve life in prison.

Colorado Public Radio reports that the state still has one pending capital case in the killing of sheriff’s deputy Heath Gumm.

“The jury can still choose death, in spite of the new law, which would give Polis with one more decision to make,” CPR noted.

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