136 STATE CAPITOL

JARED

DENVER, COLORADO 80203

Pous

TEL 303-866-2471
FAx 303-866-2003

GOVERNOR

C 2020 002
EXECUTIVE ORDER
Commutation of Sentence
Pursuant to the authority vested in the Governor of the State of Colorado by Article IV,
Section 7 of the Colorado Constitution and C.R.S. § 16-17-101, I, Jared Polis, Governor of the
State of Colorado, hereby issue this Executive Order commuting the death sentence of Offender
No. 135951to imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole.

I.

Background

In 2008, Colorado Department of Corrections Offender Number 135951 ("Offender No.
135951"), was sentenced to death in Arapahoe County, Colorado (06CR705) on two counts of
first degree murder (F-1). Offender No. 135951 has pending appeals and his execution has not
been scheduled.
For the reasons stated below, I am commuting the death sentence of Offender No. 135951
to imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole.

II.

Basis for Commutation

Commutations are typically granted to reflect evidence of extraordinary change in the
offender. That is not why I am commuting this sentence to life in prison without the possibility
of parole. Rather, the commutation of this despicable and guilty individual is consistent with the
abolition of the death penalty in the State of Colorado, and consistent with the recognition that
the death penalty cannot be, and never has been, administered equitably in the State of
Colorado.
Offender No. 135951 committed heinous crimes. In 2004, upon the direction of fellow
death row inmate Offender No. 133752, he murdered two individuals, Javad Marshall Fields, and
his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe. Mr. Fields was a prosecution witness in a murder trial involving
Offender No. 135951 as well as Offender No. 133752. The victims' loved ones live with the
pain of Offender No. 135951 's actions every single day. No punishment for Offender No.
135951, death or life imprisonment without possibility of parole, can bring back the victims or
lessen the pain and heartache he has caused.
The victims of this crime have had to live with this case for far longer than they should
have, which is its own form of injustice. While I understand that some victims agree with this
decision and others disagree, I hope that my action will at least provide certainty about the
outcome of this horrific event and accompanying legal proceedings. I am under no illusion that

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March 23, 2020
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this Executive Order gives all of the victims what they want or need, but I hope they will find
some comfort in knowing that a final decision has been made regarding Offender No. 135951 's
sentence, and that he will spend the rest of his life imprisoned, with no possibility of release or
rejoining society. I also hope that the victims find some peace and will finally be freed from the
public attention that has forced them to relive this personal tragedy over and over.
My decision today is not a commentary on the moral or ethical implications of the death
penalty in our society; rather it is a reflection of current law in Colorado, where the death penalty
has been abolished.

III.

Grant of Clemency

Offender No. 135951 be and hereby is granted a commutation reducing his death
sentence to a sentence of imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole. This grant of
clemency is limited to reducing Offender No. 135951 's death sentence to imprisonment for life
without the possibility of parole, and shall not in any way affect the underlying criminal
conviction.

GIVEN under my hand and the
Executive Seal of the State of
Colorado, this twenty-third
day of Mar , 2020.