Free Republic

BRIGHTON -- An Adams County judge sentenced a convicted murderer this morning to life in prison without parole after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled his death sentence was unconstitutional. Robert Harlan was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering 25-year-old Rhonda Maloney and paralyzing a Good Samaritan who tried to come to her aid, Jacquie Creazzo, 11 years ago. In March, the Colorado Supreme Court overturned the 41-year-old’s death sentence because jurors consulted the Bible during sentencing. The U.S. Supreme Court sided with that decision, preventing prosecutors from seeking the death penalty again. Kerri Gemeinhardt, Maloney's sister, said she is unhappy...

Brighton, Colo. -- Prosecutors have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case in which a convicted murderer's death sentence was overturned because jurors went beyond the evidence and consulted a Bible during deliberations. Robert Harlan, who was convicted in the 1994 killing of cocktail waitress Rhonda Maloney, is serving a life sentence since the Colorado Supreme Court in March agreed with a lower court's ruling that the jury's action was improper. Adams County prosecutors hope to reverse the state court's ruling. "I agree with the jury that he deserves the death sentence,"