Among the 24 clemencies that Gov. Jared Polis issued this week were two from Mesa County, with both occurring years ago when they were very young.
Polis granted a commutation to Daniel Collins, who, at the age of 18, stole a saddle in 1963 and was convicted of burglary and theft.
“Shockingly, it resulted in a prison sentence for which he was paroled in November of 1965 after serving a nine-month sentence,” Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein wrote to Polis’ clemency office when asked his opinion about it.
“He has not been in trouble since, not even traffic offenses,” Rubinstein added. “He served a much harsher sentence that he would receive in today’s criminal justice system, and through his lifetime has demonstrated that he is not a public safety risk or even a risk of low-level crime.”
我n his pardon letter to Collins, Polis said he had become a productive member of society, and worked for 42 years at now-closed Grand Junction Steel.
“Your work building the steel girders at Grand Junction Steel for the bridge through Glenwood Canyon has allowed countless Coloradans to traverse the state and enjoy its natural beauty,” Polis wrote. “Your children and grandchildren view you as a strong role model and speak highly of your character.”
District Attorney Dan Rubinstein at the Mesa County Justice Center
MCKENZIE LANGE
The other person granted clemency is John Krause, who had a much more complicated criminal history, but one that also started at a young age.
我n 1991, Krause and two friends burglarized the Valley Bible Church, where his father was pastor, and as it turned out, not for the first time.
According to Rubinstein, who also recommended Krause’s clemency, he and his friends had entered the church many times to take items later to be pawned for cash. He even stole his mother’s credit card to buy sunglasses.
最终,他承认犯有一级aggravated motor vehicle theft, second-degree burglary and providing false information on a pawn slip, all when he was just 19 years old.
Since his parole 27 years ago, he has not had any encounters with law enforcement.
“He demonstrated that, while he had problems that led him to commit the offenses, he was also the sort of person who accepted the consequences for his actions,” Rubinstein wrote. “Now he is faced with the lifetime consequence of a felony record. That record carries with it the inability to possess a firearm, and sometimes preclusion of certain rights or opportunities that others lacking a felony record enjoy.”
