Will Ritter Veto Direct File Bill?

Even if a plan to spare some teenage felons from adult jails continues to win legislative support, it could face death at the hands of the state's most powerful former district attorney: Gov. Bill Ritter.

The bill would allow judges — instead of prosecutors — to decide whether 14- and 15-year-old defendants should face adult penalties, effectively undoing a law that Ritter helped craft in 1993 as Denver's district attorney.

A leading House Democrat on Tuesday predicted the governor would probably veto the proposal, which eked by the House on Tuesday on a 34-30 vote and heads to the Senate.

Ritter has not decided whether to sign House Bill 1208, despite his previous role as prosecutor, said spokesman Evan Dreyer.

"Yes, he does have firsthand knowledge of the genesis of the legislation," Dreyer said. "But that's not to say he is predisposed one way or another."

In his dozen-plus years at the prosecutor's table, Ritter's office tried more than 521 juveniles as adults, or an average of 43 teens a year, according to data from the Denver district attorney's office.

Ritter took the top lawyer post in June 1993, just as a number of innocent bystanders — many of them children — were hurt or killed in gang aggression that swept across Denver in the so-called Summer of Violence.

During the legislative session that followed, Ritter "had a very important hand" in crafting legislation that gave district attorneys sole power to try juveniles as adults, said Rep. Terrance Carroll, a Denver Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.

"The likelihood of him signing (House Bill 1208) is not high," said Carroll, who supports the bill.

The Denver Post