Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

If you would like to be involved please go to our website and become a member.


Friday, February 19, 2010

Foster mom guilty in death of Springs toddler - The Denver Post

Foster mom guilty in death of Springs toddler - The Denver Post

COLORADO SPRINGS — A jury today found former foster mom Jules Lynn Cuneo guilty of child abuse and manslaughter in the death of a 2-year-old girl social services had placed in her care.

But jurors did not find the 36-year-old El Paso County woman guilty of first-degree murder in the Oct. 10, 2007 death of Alize Vick, which would have meant a mandatory life prison sentence.

Instead, Cuneo will face 16 to 48 years when she is sentenced April 12 for the child abuse conviction and four to 12 years for a separate count of reckless manslaughter.

The nine-woman, three-woman jury took about seven hours over two days to reach the verdict. They filed out of the courtroom, walking past the five-slat wooden coffee table where Alize suffered a fatal blow when the back of her head hit the edge of the table.

Alize's parents and grandmother left the courtroom through a back entrance and declined comment after the verdict. El Paso County Human Services took custody of the child and her younger brother and entrusted them to Cuneo after both their parents had been jailed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here we are looking at that ugly word. MANDATORY. That word causes more trouble than ever good. It should be stricken from the dictionary. As used in the legal system it never fits whatever its used for such as Mandatory life parole or Mandatory parole after an inmate has already served the sentence already meted out by a judge.Now isnt that double jeopardy?