DENVER — The 3-year-old boy affectionately known as "Biscuit" was sleeping in the back of a parked old Cadillac when the shooting began.

Fourteen bullets hit the car in the drive-by shooting outside a northeast Denver duplex. Biscuit was shot in the head and died. His brother, Calvin, four days shy of his 7th birthday, and a teenage cousin were unhurt.

Sharletta Evans — mother of Biscuit, or Casson Xavier Evans — came to forgive the gunmen, who were 15 and 16 years old at the time of the Dec. 21, 1995, shooting. But it took years for her to decide she wanted to meet them in prison, hoping for closure.

A new Colorado law encourages the state Department of Corrections to facilitate such reconciliation meetings. Yet it's a process that requires they be safe and don't backfire on victims. And prison officials say there's simply no money to make it happen in the near future.

Lawmakers made many cuts to close a budget shortfall this year of nearly $500 million. Schools, Medicaid and prison vocational programs all lost funding.

As many as 200 people want to meet their offenders in Colorado and are on a DOC list, said corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti.

Colorado's law encourages victim-offender dialogues "when funds become available." It also emphasizes an alternative sentencing option known as restorative justice, which favors restitution instead of imprisonment. It's an alternative that was already available to juveniles in some cases, but the legislation expands the option to adults. The law takes effect Aug. 10.

While several states have restorative justice laws, Colorado, Alabama, California and Vermont are the only ones trying to make possible victim-offender meetings, according to a survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures. California adopted guidelines for the meetings and so far officials have conducted two and are working on four more, said Dana Toyama, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Toyama said officials want to expand the program but also face budget challenges.

Evans, 47, said she knows it would be difficult facing the inmate who fired the shot that killed her son: Raymond Johnson, now 32. But she said that Johnson and the other shooter, Paul Littlejohn, now 31, want to meet her as well.

"There's that fear, you know, that apprehensiveness, of course," Evans said. "That's there, but I have to take the courage so that I could fill this void in my life.

"And not only in my life, but in his," she said of Johnson.

Sanguinetti confirmed Johnson wants the meeting, too. State prison officials believe it can be beneficial for victims and inmates to understand each other's side and move forward, she said.

"But for some of these victims it's a chance to ask why," she said. "For some, it may be that they want to offer forgiveness based on their spiritual beliefs."

In 1995, Sharletta Evans left the children in the car while she went into a relative's duplex to pick up a 3-year-old cousin. The reason: A drive-by shooting had occurred the previous night, and she feared for the cousin's safety.

The duplex was struck by another seven rounds while she was inside.

Johnson and Littlejohn were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Evans said she believes they thought the Cadillac belonged to rival gang members.

Setting up reconciliation meetings requires time to prevent a disaster, Sanguinetti said. The last time DOC set up a victim-offender meeting, years ago, there was little planning, and the inmate verbally attacked the victim, she said.

Now, prison officials would want facilitators with mental health expertise to meet separately with victim and inmate several times to ensure that they're emotionally ready. It can take between six months to a year.

"This is not like someone broke into their car," Sanguinetti said. "This is someone who murdered their daughter. These are very emotional crimes."

It's sometimes possible in county jails for victims to meet offenders via closed-circuit video. But a face-to-face meeting between a mother and her son's killer would be a first for DOC, Sanguinetti said.

Hiring facilitators and paying their travel costs to sometimes distant prisons can be expensive and the state doesn't have the money, Sanguinetti said. Ideally, victims who want to meet their offenders should not have to foot the bill to pay for their travel either, Sanguinetti said.

Democratic Rep. Pete Lee, who sponsored the bill, said officials can seek grants, something Sanguinetti insists her department has done. Lee's wife, Lynn, chair for Pikes Peak Restorative Justice Council, has been helping Evans in her quest for about two years.

Over the years, Evans said, Johnson and Littlejohn have written her to express remorse. Johnson writes from a prison in Limon, Colo., and Littlejohn from Sterling, Colo.

She says her faith helped her to forgive even before anyone was arrested for the shooting.

"I had never encountered such a powerful spirit of forgiveness that came through me and went to them," she said.

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And losing her son inspired Evans, who lives in the Denver suburb of Aurora, to found Redcross Blueshield Gang Prevention, Inc., in 2003. It aims to steer youth away from gangs by educating them about gang destructiveness.

If a meeting ever happens, Evans knows the first thing she would ask:

"What were your thoughts that evening?"

Contact Ivan Moreno at: http://www.twitter.com/IvanJournalist

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