In the closing hours of the 2022 legislative session, the House killed a bill to prohibit law enforcement from lying while interrogating suspects younger than 18.

The House sponsors of Senate Bill 23 chose to shut down the bill without opposition less than an hour before the legislature’s midnight deadline to conclude operations. The decision came after the House passed a rewritten, heavily weakened version of the bill earlier in the day that was later rejected by the Senate and sent back to the House.

The House sponsors who initially approved the rewrite said they did not support the changes and would rather the bill die than move forward in that form.

“It fundamentally changed this bill,” said Rep. Serena Gonzales- Gutierrez, D-Denver, who sponsored the bill. “Changed it to a point where, honestly, our coalition, our advocates and we agree that it would actually be worse for our kids when we’re talking about the use of deceptive tactics from law enforcement.”

Originally, Senate Bill 23 would have made a juvenile’s statements inadmissible in court if law enforcement knowingly used deception during the interrogation, including lying about evidence or offering unauthorized leniency for a confession. As amended, the bill would have only made law enforcement agencies adopt written policies and procedures for juvenile interrogations by Feb. 28, 2023.

The bill sponsors said they will continue working on the legislation and intend to bring the original bill back next year.

“We’re here on the last day and we will have another session to work through this,” said bill sponsor Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver.

Gonzales- Gutierrez added: “In this institution, we keep our word because that’s all that we have. That’s what I’m here doing now.”

Under the rewritten bill, the protocols would include explaining Miranda rights in an age-appropriate way, recording the interrogations and adjusting questions for a minor’s age, maturity and education level. The protocols would be asked to align with guidelines from the International Association of Chiefs of Police — which recommends avoiding deception, promises of leniency and threats of harm — or other nationally recognized peer-reviewed research.

Bill sponsors said deceptive tactics, such as saying police have proof a suspect is guilty, can lead to juveniles confessing to crimes they didn’t commit out of fear or confusion. Of juveniles exonerated for crimes over a 25-year period, 38% had given false confessions, according to a 2013 study by the National Registry of Exonerations. Only 11% of exonerated adults provided false confessions.

In Denver in 2000, 14-year-old Lorenzo Montoya confessed to a murder he did not commit after police told him there were fingerprints, shoe prints and saliva at the crime scene proving his guilt. Montoya, who testified in support of the bill, was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life in prison. He served more than 13 years before he was exonerated on DNA evidence.

“Kids shouldn’t lie to cops and cops shouldn’t lie to kids,” said bill sponsor Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, while speaking on the original bill. “One Lorenzo is too many.”

House lawmakers rewrote the bill after receiving substantial opposition. The bill narrowly passed out of the Senate in February in an 18-16 vote, with all Republican senators in opposition and all Democrats in support except for Sen. Joanne Ginal, D-Fort Collins.

Before it was rejected by the Senate and sent back, the rewritten bill passed the House in a comfortable 50-12 vote on Wednesday, receiving bipartisan approval and only opposition from Republicans.

Critics of the original bill argued that banning deception would take away an important tool from law enforcement.

Sen. John Cooke, a Greeley Republican who previously served as Weld County sheriff, called the bill “anti-law enforcement,” “anti-public safety” and “pro-criminal.”

“This bill is coming out during an epidemic of crime,” Cooke said during the floor debate. “Here’s the percentage of increase of juvenile crime: violent crime up almost 19%, murder 10.5%, aggravated assault up almost 31%, non-consensual sex offenses 17%. If you vote for this bill, you can almost guarantee those numbers are going to increase.”

Supporters of the bill pushed back against the assertion that it is “anti-public safety,” arguing it would prevent false confessions that result in innocent victims being imprisoned while real criminals remain free.