Committee Kills Proposed Ban On Illegal Immigration Plea Bargains
Vote Was 3-2 Along Party Lines
By Lance Hernandez, 7NEWS Reporter

POSTED: 6:44 pm MDT April 21, 2008
UPDATED: 9:13 pm MDT April 21, 2008
[NEWSVINE: Committee Kills Proposed Ban On Illegal Immigration Plea Bargains] [DELICIOUS: Committee Kills Proposed Ban On Illegal Immigration Plea Bargains] [DIGG: Committee Kills Proposed Ban On Illegal Immigration Plea Bargains] [FACEBOOK: Committee Kills Proposed Ban On Illegal Immigration Plea Bargains] [REDDIT: Committee Kills Proposed Ban On Illegal Immigration Plea Bargains] [RSS] [PRINT: Committee Kills Proposed Ban On Illegal Immigration Plea Bargains] [EMAIL: Committee Kills Proposed Ban On Illegal Immigration Plea Bargains]
DENVER -- Colorado voters will not get to decide whether illegal immigrants charged with crimes can enter plea bargains, if the plea means they won't have to be deported.

The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted 3-2 Monday to kill a resolution that would have put that issue before voters.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 08-004 would have prohibited a court from accepting a plea of guilty from a defendant who is in the U.S. illegally, if the result of the plea would permit the defendant to avoid deportation.

It was introduced following a federal court case where an immigration agent accessed a crime database and then forwarded information about illegal immigrants who were offered plea bargains to his congressman, Bob Beauprez. Beauprez’s campaign workers then used the information in ads targeting then Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter in the race for governor.

“These are people who without a doubt committed some serious crimes, and the district attorney appeared to be plea-bargaining them down to a misdemeanor to avoid deportation,â€