3 Years After Murder, Family Memorializes Son With 'Colton's Law'
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- A Minnesota family is taking part in a ceremonial signing of a law named after their son.
Colton Gleason, 20, died a day after he was punched in the head in an alley in St. Cloud. The teen who threw the fatal blow, Jesse Smithers, had just been released from juvenile detention and had not been fitted with his GPS monitoring device.
John and Julie Gleason lobbied to create Colton's Law in honor of their son. The law makes sure offenders get the ankle bracelet before leaving a detention facility.
On Monday, Gov. Dayton held the ceremonial signing of Dayton's law in St. Paul, where the Gleasons say they wanted to help give some meaning to his death.
The Gleason family say they wanted to help give meaning to their son's death, and they waited three years for the bill to finally be signed Monday.
"There was so much support for this, and I think a lot of people that were in the law portion of this weren't even aware of this gap," John Gleason said. "Because of that, there was such an outcry and such support from both sides "
The teen convicted of killing Colton, Jessie Smithers, had been released from Juvenile detention a day before.
"He gave his life that night to protect others," John Gleason said about his son.
Colton Gleason was walking with a group of friends in St. Cloud back in September of 2012 when a car stopped nearby and five people got out. They surrounded the group, but Colton told the girls to turn and walk away.
Friends say they thought Colton diffused the situation, but that's when he was sucker punched and knocked to the ground. His skull was fractured in two places. He died a day later.
Smithers had an appointment to get his GPS tracking bracelet, which wasn't wearing before he got out of lockup. Colton's mother Julie believes that bracelet would have prevented Smithers from killing her son.
"It was hard to believe that it actually happened," she said.
Three years later, there is law that carries the name of the young man who was a peacemaker, a good brother, friend and classmate.
"I'm super excited that this is a law," Julie Gleason said. "I just wish it had been in place three years ago."
Jesse Smithers plead guilty to second degree murder, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The Gleasons hope Colton's Law will prevent another family from dealing with the pain they currently are living with now.