The Colorado state legislature has taken the historic step of passing a bill to abolish the death penalty, as 21 other states have previously done. After nearly five hours of debate Wednesday, the state House voted 38-27 for the repeal, with three Democrats joining all 24 House Republicans in voting against the bill. In total, lawmakers spent about 36 hours debating and taking testimony on the bill since late January, when the bill moved through the Senate. Related Articles Colorado lawmakers vote for death penalty repeal in the middle of the night Letters: Debating the death penalty (2/13/20) Brauchler: Consequences of repealing the death penalty — more trials and re-trials of heinous murderers Letters: Respect voters on death penalty; More examples of the need for personal responsibility; more responses (1/31/20) Emotional debate on Colorado death penalty repeal culminates in historic vote Many lawmakers said it was among the toughest issues they’d ever voted on.