In Colorado, the fate of convicted murderer Nathan Dunlap has been an issue of great debate. This past week, the governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, made what has to be one of the most cowardly decisions ever seen in politics by putting a man’s life and the expectations of his victims on hold just long enough to take the decision out of his hands.

In 1993, Nathan Dunalap waltzed into a Chuck E. Cheese in Aurora, Colorado which he had previously worked at, and shot 4 employees to death, wounding a fifth. Some of the victims were as young as 17. Dunlap was 19 at the time.

As is traditionally the situation in death penalty cases, there were those looking to stop the execution and those pushing for justice. Governor Hickenlooper, already famous in Colorado for his inability to take a strong position or make difficult decisions, had to decide which direction to take: clemency or execution. Incredibly, he found a way to do neither, instead pushing the decision onto the shoulders of his successor by using an executive order to issue a “temporary reprieve” blaming his decision on an “imperfect system.” The reprieve will likely stand for the remainder of Hickenlooper’s term and require a new governor to order its removal.

“Obviously this has weighed heavily on me for over a year now and it was obvious that inaction wasn’t an option,” said at a press conference Wednesday. And yet, inaction is precisely what he’s done. It’s also worth noting that while he was “heavily weighing” the situation and families were waiting in the wings to find out whether justice would be served for their loved ones, Hickenlooper was partying with the Denver Broncos.

To add insult to injustice, it appears there is a possibility that Hickenlooper made his fateful indecision at the behest of an overzealous staffer that was threatening to quit if he didn’t offer clemency.

Dennis O’Connor, the father of victim Colleen O’Connor (17), appeared on the Michael Brown Show on Thursday and took Hickenlooper and his staff to task over the “decision.” In the devastatingly heart breaking interview, O’Connor discusses how Hickenlooper’s Chief of Staff, Roxanne White, tweeted that the death penalty was “barbaric,” a word that should be reserved instead only for this murderous fiend who bragged to his cell mate that O’Connor’s daughter begged for her life on her knees to which he replied by smiling and shooting her in the face. This monster went on to say it was “better than sex.” Forgive me, but that is barbaric.

Listen to the full interview below and share it with everyone you know. This coward of a governor needs to be taken to the woodshed over this. The national media would be having a feeding frenzy about a Republican governor executing a murderer, but the outrage on this is deafeningly silent. That needs to change.

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