Try to watch this new long-form ad from an independent expenditure committee, Better Future for Colorado, without being horrified. Dennis O’Connor, the father of Chuck E Cheese Killer victim Colleen O’Connor, starts the video by talking about how much he loved his daughter, a beautiful young woman who was just 17 years old when Nathan Dunlap executed her. He also conveyed that he never got to say goodbye to his daughter before they took her off life support. Dennis O’Connor said that he was thrilled when the District Attorney decided to pursue the death penalty.
The video also, disturbingly, shows Dunlap’s callous attitudes towards his four teenage victims. In a jailhouse interview, Dunlap said: “I wanted them dead and they’re dead.”
Mr. O’Connor’s quest for justice for his little girl was undermined last year when Gov. John Hickenlooper granted Nathan Dunlap a temporary reprieve from his death penalty sentence. The video is 13 minutes long, but well worth the time to watch. We’ve embedded it below. Grab some Kleenex.
Kelly Maher from the independent expenditure committee criticized the Governor’s actions:
“We all must take time out this election season to remember that it’s time for us to take public safety seriously. Governor Hickenlooper refused to allow families of victims of one of the most tragic crimes in the state’s history closure. He has broken the public trust of his leadership, and people are hurting as a result.”
It is heart wrenching to watch Dennis' video. There is no closure and no peace for these families of Nathan Dunlap's victims. For the Governor to go against the judicial process and to "decide not to decide" only prolongs these folks' anguish and pain.