On the night of May 30, 1997, they noticed a young girl walking alone down the street wearing a red Chicago Bulls jersey, and, like sharks drawn to blood, the men pulled alongside the unsuspecting girl. The name-calling, hyperbole, and descriptive adjectives and nouns utilized to describe the trial process bears more relation to a military operation than a dignified process of decision-making reflecting restraint and calm deliberation. “The adversarial model invites the language of war and violence into the courtroom. Humiliation, embarrassment, and disgrace are frequently advanced as laudable goals in trial.” [7] Edmund Burke, commenting on the revolution in France that resulted in the enthronement of reason commented: Brandaline Rose Duvall was a small, shy, and happy 14 year old middle school student who was born on July 28, 1982, in Denver, Colorado. To call her a complete angel would be inaccurate; she, like many youths, was involved in some illegal activities and used drugs such as alcohol, cocaine and marijuana. But Brandy, as her friends called her, was, in general, a kind, loving young girl who got good grades, did sports, and hung out with other girls. Her future was looking bright; she was an honor roll student, and had recently brought home her first rose from a boy. But all of her aspirations and dreams would come to a violent, horrifying end on the night of May 30, 1997. Join us this week as Harley tells us the gruesome awful death Brandy suffered.

Located in rural Arapahoe County, the small town of Byers, Colorado (pop. 1,100) is a quiet little community of farms and ranches. It's a place where crime is virtually nonexistent, and where residents all know each other. Behind a window, obscured by a large tan curtain, several witnesses sat in a nearby room. Among them was the prosecutor, Bob Grant; Ginny May's father, Rod MacLennan; and Ginny's brother, Dave.Deuce-Seven members identified themselves by wearing the color red, and considered it to be a great insult for non-members to wear the color. The patrolled streets like South Federal Boulevard, on the lookout for non-members wearing that color. In the case of Vigil, however, First Judicial District DA Alexis King feels that his sentences for kidnapping and first-degree assault should have been allowed consecutively. As a result, his time behind bars would likely have been lengthened by between fifteen and 48 years, again minus earned time, beyond what he's expected to serve after the resentencing. As a writer whose seen war and famine and all the terrible things humans do to one another, and has sat through more than a dozen death penalty cases, this affected me more than all of the others. In fact, I gave up writing about true crime for several years. I just didn't want to hear any more mothers, or siblings, or spouses, and friends of victims, or children, crying or reliving their nightmares on a witness stand. Or see the psychological damage done to prosecutors and detectives, social workers and witnesses. Or hear over and over, the horrific retelling of a young teen's last hours. Eventually, I recovered and went on to write other #truecrime stories and books. But the rape, torture, and murder of 14-year-old Brandaline Rose Duvall, and the fallout from that, will haunt me always. In NO ANGELS, I've pulled together, revised, updated, and interconnected the many moving pieces of this story. Maybe there's something to learn in it about how monsters are made, about choices that have far-reaching and unintended consequences, and the ripple effect of violence. If true justice could be served", the Reverend fumed, "these scum would be forced to spend the rest of their lives in a pit filled with rats, snakes, rodents, and skunks!".

How did I come from that place to a place where, without sympathy or sadness, I could write a lengthy intellectual opinion and coldly justify the execution of another person? Is this only because I was taught to “think like a lawyer?” Was it merely my experience slicing and dicing arguments and counter-arguments that I learned to adopt the soul and logic of an amoral rationalist? A moral gap grew between what I could justify on intellectual and rational grounds and what I believed at my core moral center, if indeed I still had one. As most people know, I am a supporter of the death penalty, and I cannot help but express my firm and ardent opposition to this bill. The death penalty must remain a legal punishment for certain heinous and depraved murderers, and I urge Colorado's legislature to defeat this bill and keep capital punishment on the books. On the scheme of this barbarous philosophy, which is the offspring of cold hearts and muddy understandings, and which is as void of solid wisdom, as it is destitute of all taste and elegance, laws are to be supported only by their own terrors, and by the concern, which each individual may find in them, from his own private speculations, or can spare to them from his own private interests. In the groves of their academy, at the end of every vista, you see nothing but the gallows. [8] In his closing arguments to the jury, Truman made clear his resentment towards his client. "There are times in this case when I hate Gary Davis. Gary Davis has lied to me. In a lot of respects, he has set me up for failure, and the crime he committed is reprehensible", he said. "Nevertheless," he concluded, "in the face of all of this, I ask you to consider the moral justification of imposing the death penalty in this case [...] I ask you to spare Gary Davis' life." Due to the circumstantial evidence implicating Davis, police drove to his house on the neighboring ranch. Nobody was home, so officers began a routine patrol of the surrounding area.First off here's one cruel and heinous case where the perpetrator and victims are in harmony with your limited thought pattern. :-*A clear death penalty case. The punishment doled out to the defendants accused of the crimes against DuVall was severe. Francisco Martinez was sentenced to death by lethal injection (the death penalty was subsequently abolished in Colorado); Danny Martinez was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole; Samuel Quintana was sentenced to 48 years; David Warren was sentenced to 32 years; Maurice Warren was sentenced to thirteen years; and Jacob Casados was sentenced to twenty years. Beyond the tool of reason, the law offers little in the way of moral and spiritual guidance to its practitioners. Though some may argue that our laws are the embodiment of natural law reflecting the norms and expectations of the Creator, few if any lawyers post that argument to judges or jurors. Most judges do not appeal to natural law in making their “wise” choices. Lawyers do not make natural law arguments to the jury. Arguing, for example, that God is on one’s side in a courtroom would likely result in a very long recess, a very long lecture from the bench, and possibly even a mistrial if stated in front of the jury. Most judges, in fact, would conclude that praying to God and asking God’s assistance and guidance in making a decision is inappropriate. Most judges, in fact, leave out the “so help you God” part of the oath when a witness is sworn. I often tell litigants that they should not view a courtroom as the temple of God. I tell them it is Caesar’s temple where the powers and principalities of this world are in charge. God stays clear of courtrooms, and thus, “we render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.” When I am asked to weigh a man’s life in the balance, what does Caesar offer? However, this year, the bill's proponents say they believe they have the votes to pass the bill, and the governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, has said he will sign it if it reaches his desk.