the state of colorado thinks. >> by the time the bill failed, both of rhonda's son's killers, sir mario owensd the only other occupant on colorado's death row, nathan dunlap. critics of the death penalty noticed troubling similarities. >> owens, ray, and dunlap all went to the same high school. they all were young african-american men at the time that they were charged in their cases. and they were all charged in the same exact judicial district. why are these three singled out, and they're the only people on death row? >> race is extremely important, but it's not important as it relates to this concept of death penalty. we happen to have three african-american men who are on death row for the same thing. cold-blooded murder. and in my view, it has nothing to do with race. it has everything to do about murder. >> over the next few years, rhonda fields would continue to be an important voice in favor of capital punishment. especially because the dunlap case was about to remerge in the headlines. after nearly 20 years of court proceedings, nathan's defense team was running out of options. in 20