the dunlap case arose in arapaho county, part of the 18th judicial district which is in colorado, is now and has been in the past in love with the death penalty. by the time the trial beghaen 1996, the verdict seemed to be a foregone conclusion. the trial then essentially becomes about whether what nathan dunlap did is deserving of the death penalty. in fact, before trial, nathan s defense team made an offer to the state. nathan would plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. it comes down to what s the appropriate sentence that we were seeking? is this appropriate to plead this to a life in prison? and it was not. at trial, nathan s lawyers called almost no witnesses and offered little defense for his actions. it took the jury only 3 1/2
my son, it was the most devastating event that i have ever experienced in my life. i was very, very angry. i was very upset. and so i went straight to the police department and started asking questions. javad had witnessed a friend s murder at a barbecue the summer before, and despite receiving death threats, javad had decided to testify in court against the accused killer. he felt like it was the right thing to do because he saw his best friend get shot down in cold blood. javad was murdered five days before the trial was set to begin. months later, sir mario owens and robert ray, who d both been implicated in the barbecue shooting, were indicted for javad and vivian s murders. this case becomes one of the biggest cases in colorado, and a prosecution in this case also in arapaho county, they seek the death penalty. i think it s pretty clear why we sought death in the cases of sir mario owens and robert ray. listen, they murdered a witness
serious crimes. prosecutors first tried nathan for one of the robberies and convicted him. with a violent crime now on nathan s record, the d.a. s office announced they would aggressively pursue the death penalty. the dunlap case arose in arapaho county, part of the 18th judicial district which is in colorado, is now and has been in the past in love with the death penalty. the verdict seemed to be a foregone conclusion. the trial then essentially becomes about whether what nathan dunlap did is deserving of the death penalty. in fact, before trial, nathan s defense team made an offer to the state. nathan would plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. it comes down to what s the appropriate sentence that he s receiving? is this appropriate to plead this to a life in prison? and it was not. at trial, nathan s lawyers called almost no witnesses and offered little defense for his actions.
i was having breakfast with the colorado bureau of investigation, and his assistant director. these people are still close to me. and they were talking about how the entire approach has changed. littleton and arapaho county took lessons from columbine to heart. i was listening to the fire rescue traffic a short time ago. and before they knew everybody was out, they were calling for activating the emergency medical mass casualty system. they have put in place a very sophisticated system to respond to situations like that. and they all hope they would never have to have another. or they would never have another. and, of course, we re still hoping this one that we don t have any students who are more seriously wounded. but, you know, it s just i don t think anybody has any answers on this. and everybody will be wondering what was the student s gripe, what was the issue, why did this happen? tom, stand by for a quick second. we want to listen in to our affiliate, kusa s interview, an
here, and the police security officer coming up to frisk them all. so each one is frisked, turned around, frisked again, and then allowed to move on, and the others are in the line waiting, and i looks like some of the girls are consoling each other. i wish i had answers for you about what happened with the students. the report from the denver post are one student shot two other students. there are other reports from other changes i cannot confirm, of a molotov cocktail in some way being involved. i have no reports from police on that. in fact, anybody on the news deck, if anything comes in officially from police? mark who is charge out here today says nothing at all from the sheriff s office there in arapaho county, nothing from the centennial, colorado, police department, not from arapaho high school. this school with some 2,000 in centennial, except these pictures which are as familiar,