DENVER -- Lawmakers considered a unique proposal Wednesday that would do away with Colorado's death penalty and would use money for capital punishment to solve cold case murders.

The state's death penalty is rarely handed down. Only two men are currently sitting on Colorado's death row.

Lawmakers estimated the state could save about $2 million per year by not pursuing the death penalty. One person has been executed in Colorado since 1967.

There are some 1,200 unsolved murder in the state dating back to 1970.

Some said the money spent pursuing and publicly defending death row cases could be better spent trying to solve unsolved murders.

Among them was Linda Bruno, whose sister, Polly, was murdered in 1998.

"I'm asking you to please help law enforcement be relentless for all of us -- the nameless, the above-average, the average and below-average citizens of the state. Be relentless for us," she said.

But critics including state Attorney General John Suthers said the death penalty remains a valuable deterrent.

"When you go out and kill witnesses in a case of first-degree murder against you, that's an aggravating factor," Suthers said. "I think it should expose you to the death penalty."

The case of Javad Marshall Fields who was gunned down before he was scheduled to testify in the first-degree case of Sir Mario Owens was discussed Wednesday.

The Arapahoe County District Attorney is currently deciding whether to pursue the death penalty in Owens' case. One of Fields' relatives said that the family would like the district attorney to have the option to hand down the death penalty.

Denver District Attorney Mitchell Morrissey is also speaking out against the death penalty bill. He said he is not opposed to giving more money to solving cold cases, but he said it should not come at the expense of the death penalty.