DENVER — If a trio of Democrat lawmakers have their way, randomly shooting a gun into a crowd but not actually hitting anybody, would be charged under the same felony classification as failure to pay child support.
House Bill 25-1206, titled “Extreme Indifference Offenses Not Causing Death” creates lower felony classifications in Colorado for attempted first degree murder “under circumstances evidencing an attitude of universal malice manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life,” according to the bill summary.
The bill is sponsored in the House by Reps. Michael Carter and Jennifer Bacon, and in the Senate by Mike Weismann.
Currently a class 2 felony, the bill would adjust the penalties for attempted first degree murder as follows:
- A class 3 felony if serious bodily injury results to any person;
- A class 4 felony if bodily injury results to any person; and
- A class 5 felony if no injury results to any person.
Class 5 felonies are the second lowest felony classification in Colorado, with a sentencing range of 1-3 years plus mandatory parole, and in certain circumstances are probation-eligible.
The bill also repeals the crime of assault in the first degree when “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, the person knowingly engages in conduct that creates a grave risk of death to another person and thereby causes serious bodily injury to any person.”
The ‘bad shot’ bill
Republican State Rep. Jarvis Caldwell said in an interview on the Mandy Connell radio show that he and his colleagues who oppose the bill have a new name for it.
“We’re all calling it the ‘bad shot’ bill,” Caldwell said, “because you’re trying to kill people, you’re shooting at them, you don’t hit them, and now you get a slap on the wrist if this bill passes.”
Rep. Carter was already attempting to justify the bill before he even presented it to the House Judiciary committee on March 19, which took testimony only that continued past midnight, meaning there was no vote taken.
“I want to make sure that I do not dishonor or impugn any of the horrific stories that we are going to be listening to,” Carter said. “I want to make sure that no one believes this bill is about excusing any type of conduct or minimizing any of the trauma from the results of that conduct.”
Carter called his bill an “attempt to right-size the punishment.”
However, Rep. Bacon was clear in why she was sponsoring the bill, noting that she believes there is a difference between actual murder and attempted murder, placing the latter into an assault category.
“We are not talking about completed acts of homicide,” Bacon said. “We are talking about attempted crimes, particularly assault.”
Elected District Attorneys from across the state on both sides of the political aisle disagreed, including Denver DA John Walsh and El Paso County DA Michael Allen.
Rep. Caldwell said every DA admitted there may be some room for changes, but not this drastic.
“When you’re talking about dropping it down to a felony class five, you’re literally talking about doing a drive by shooting and missing people and then getting probation for that,” Caldwell said.
Club Q survivor testifies
Michael Anderson, a survivor of the Club Q mass-killing in November of 2022 told the committee he is not opposed to more scrutiny into the penalties but that this is neither the moment or the legislation to do that.
“I was the only bartender that would clock out that night alive,” Anderson said, adding he has not had the question “why now” sufficiently answered. “I am sitting here before you today as someone who has lived through the hypothetical (what if someone is not injured). It’s horrible hypothetical. And it simply happens far to often in this country.
“It was not out of the goodness of Anderson Lee Aldrich’s heart that dozens of bullets that should have hit me, missed. It wasn’t because he made that decision actively. That was sheer luck and entirely random that I did not receive those bullets. Thanks to the current law as it stands, District Attorney Allen was able to get 48 years tacked on to the overall sentence simply for the fact I survived the shooting and Aldrich’s bullets missed me. And I’m grateful for those 48 years.”
It is not clear when the bill will be back before judiciary for a vote. Complete Colorado will continue to follow its progress.
