The Colorado district attorney prosecuting "Dark Knight Rises" shooting suspect James Holmes will be forced to step down this year because of term limits.
And the race for Carol Chambers' replacement will largely turn on which candidate for 18th Judicial District DA will seek the death penalty against the 24-year-old suspect, Denver publication Westword reports.
One candidate, Ethan Feldman, is a former state court judge in Colorado, and a Democrat who's also been both a prosecutor and defense lawyer.
His Republican opponent, George Brauchler, is an ex-state prosecutor who was an officer in the Army Reserve.
Both say they'd be willing to pursue the death penalty when it's "warranted," but Westword reports that neither has a lot of real experience with death penalty cases.
Feldman was involved in two cases in which the death penalty was considered, one as a prosecutor and once in 1983 when he argued that the death penalty wasn't applied fairly in the state.
Brauchler, who only worked on two homicide cases that went to trial, questioned how Feldman could argue against the death penalty but be expected to seek it now, Westword reported.
Feldman said things have changed since he argued against the death penalty in 1983. "The legislature has fine-turned the process," he said.
Head over to Westword to read its cover story on the DA race.
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