Lawmakers on the Colorado House Judiciary Committee narrowly passed a bill proposing changes to the state’s sentencing guidelines for murders facilitated with “extreme indifference to the value of human life.”

Colorado is one of several states with this type of charge, which applies when someone causes another person’s death by doing something they know is very dangerous and could seriously hurt or kill someone.

But Colorado is the only state that classifies extreme‑indifference homicide as first‑degree murder, which carries a mandatory life‑without‑parole sentence.

Democratic Reps. Cecelia Espenoza, of Denver, and Michael Carter, of Aurora, say they are trying to align state statute with the rest of the country through House Bill 1281, which would create a new charge of second-degree murder with extreme indifference.

“The current law is too blunt in some places and incomplete in others,” Carter told the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. “This bill will give Colorado a clear and more credible structure for some of the most serious cases in our state.”

District attorneys and law enforcement agencies argued that reducing sentences for certain classifications of murder will do nothing to make Colorado safer.

“This bill would lower the penalty for murderers who have taken extreme actions in a cold-blooded nature to cause mass harm to other people,” said Jessica Dotter of the Colorado District Attorneys Council. “It doesn’t take a lot of legal analysis to know that that is not a good move for public safety or the citizens of our state.”

Passing this bill would send a message to Coloradans that crime victims and their families don’t matter, she added.

The proposed legislation would eliminate the mandatory life‑without‑parole requirement and, by reclassifying the offense as second‑degree murder, establish a sentencing range of 24 to 48 years in prison.

Suspects could still be charged with first‑degree murder under an extreme‑indifference theory in certain cases, such as when the incident results in the deaths of two or more people, a child under 12, or a law enforcement officer, EMS provider, or firefighter who is on duty.

According to Espenoza, there have been 50 cases of homicide with extreme indifference in Denver County in the last three years. Of those, 30 were resolved: 20 were plea-bargained to a determinate sentence, and 10 went to trial. In four of those cases, the defendants were between 17 and 20 years old.

One of the most notable cases of extreme indifference murder in recent years is the 2023 death of 20-year-old Alexa Bartell.

Bartell was driving in Jefferson County when a nine-pound rock was thrown at her windshield, killing her. Three young adults were charged with her murder, including 18-year-old Joseph Koening, who was convicted of 19 counts, including murder with extreme indifference.

According to Espenoza, Koenig had just turned 18 a few weeks before the incident.

“The question becomes for me, do we want to use the extreme indifference murder tool as it has been used against people who have just left childhood into adulthood?” she asked. “Is he not redeemable? Should he have no hope for all of his time in prison because he made that horrible mistake?”

Padraic Emerine of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police said the bill would give “a significant break” to some of the most violent offenders in the state.

Murders committed with extreme indifference should be considered among the worst kinds of murders, Emerine said. Regardless of whether or not there was premeditation, he argued, murders committed with premeditation and with extreme indifference both end the same way — in the loss of a life — and should be treated with equal severity.

“This bill is more than just soft on crime; it is extreme,” Emerine said. “It gives unwarranted and undeserved benefits to mass shooters, school shooters, and those offenders who want to cause as much harm as possible without a care or a worry for who they hurt or how many.”

A vote for HB 1281 “is a vote to support mass shooters,” Emerine said.

Dan Meyer of the Spero Justice Center said Colorado is the only state that requires a mandatory life‑without‑parole sentence for every extreme‑indifference murder conviction.

“Meyer said the current law in Colorado is unusually broad and confusing, covering many different types of behavior but punishing all of it with the harshest possible sentence.”

He added that there is no evidence this approach improves public safety, noting research showing that people are more influenced by the likelihood of being caught than by the length of a potential sentence — especially since most people don’t know their state’s sentencing laws.

Meyer also said the current statute imposes one blanket penalty and prevents judges from tailoring sentences based on the specific facts of each case.

“Our constitutional system is designed to balance power to punish between the jury, the judge, and the prosecutor, but Colorado’s approach concentrates power in the hands of prosecutors only, taking away checks and balances,” he said. “Forty-eight other states give judges the ability to consider the facts of a particular case when choosing an appropriate sentence.”

Criminal defense attorney Jennifer Jones has spent the majority of her career representing children and young adults charged with serious crimes. She said she’s seen young adults charged with extreme indifference homicide for merely being with the perpetrator at the time of a shooting.

Extreme indifference, by definition, involves creating risk, and it is well known that young people have a reduced ability to assess risk.

“Young people are especially vulnerable to reckless, risky behavior that results in these extreme indifference charges that carry extreme sentences,” Jones said. “Creating a risk of death is different than intentionally and deliberately killing someone; that should be reflected in sentencing.”

Jones called the bill “a moderate step that addresses how these charges are used to leverage really high plea agreements when the conduct and the outcome don’t warrant having no hope for ever being released from prison as a teenager.”

The proposed legislation passed the Judiciary Committee on a 6-5 vote, with all Republicans and Democratic Rep. Chad Clifford of Greenwood Village voting against it.