Sienna Johnson has pleaded guilty to two charges, one juvenile and one adult, in relation to an alleged Columbine-style plot against Mountain Vista High School circa December 2015. Her sentence is similar to, but slightly longer than, the one meted out against Brooke Higgins, her accused co-conspirator, this past February.
New Colorado theft data reveals that three of the five most stolen vehicles in the state are trucks. This marks the most top-five appearances by pickups in at least three years.
Kevin Lyons has been sentenced for the April 2016 killing of Dr. Kenneth Atkinson and the wounding of two women, including his wife. Atkinson’s widow asked the judge in the case to impose the heaviest punishment possible, and he came as close as he could without imposing the death penalty, which prosecutors reluctantly chose not to seek.
Monica Abeyta, thirty, was arrested on Saturday, June 3, in Colorado Springs after her three-year-old son shot his two-year-old brother. At last report, the injured child was in stable condition following the latest incident of children from Colorado being hurt or killed after finding an unsecured gun. Here are five additional examples as seen in excerpts from our previous coverage, as well as additional details about the Abeyta matter.
James Pennington is the kind of person who would probably jump off a bridge if a friend told him to. Earlier this month, Pennington removed the testicles of a transgender woman in a Denver apartment at her behest. Pennington isn’t a licensed doctor in Colorado, according to 9NEWS. He’s a…
Christian Gulzow, the man arrested for the fatal stabbing of Brian Lucero in the parking lot of Torchy’s Tacos on May 23, is described by two members of The Undertakers, a Denver metal band with which he was once associated, as obsessed with demons, weapons and musical fame that was beyond his ability. They also say that after ending their friendship with him, Gulzow reacted by unleashing violent warnings that are even more disturbing given the current allegations against him.
Brian Lucero has been identified as the victim of a fatal stabbing in the parking lot of Torchy’s Tacos, near the intersection of 11th and Broadway early on May 23. His alleged killer, Christian Gulzow, a Denver-area death metal singer with a substantial criminal record, has been arrested in the death of Lucero, a transient whose fate is evidence of the dangers regularly faced by members of the homeless community.
The man identified by Denver police as Christian Gulzow, the suspect in the fatal stabbing of Brian Lucero in the Torchy’s Tacos parking lot early on May 23, is known online as both Christöf Gülzow and Nürüm Bellüm, a death metal vocalist. His various social media platforms feature multiple images of him with white makeup and gloves with long tips of the sort allegedly worn by the killer in the case, and a video on his Instagram account includes violent and bloody knifings.
Since the election of President Trump in November 2016, there has been an uptick in hate crimes across the nation. Denver is no exception, with some notable examples: Eight days after the election, on November 16, a transgender woman in Capitol Hill found her car spray-painted with swastikas and the…
Aaron Thompson, who was convicted in 2009 of child abuse resulting in death and more in regard to his daughter, Aaroné, despite the fact that her body was never found, has lost his latest attempt to gain his freedom. The Colorado Court of Appeals narrowly rejected his argument that he’d been unconstitutionally prevented from using the lawyer of his choice.
Working at a for-profit Colorado prison made an indelible impression on Sue Binder, who became convinced that management was more interested in keeping the place as full —and profitable — as possible than helping inmates prepare for release or treating staff fairly.
The Denver Police Department has launched a series of videos intended to reveal myths about sex offenders in the Mile High City. Detective David Bourgeois, who stars in the clips, provided Westword with additional details about myths exposed in the first installment, on view below, and previews future episodes, revealing, for example, that not every registered sex offender can be found online.
This week, Officer John Adsit is officially retiring from the Denver Police Department because of injuries he sustained after being hit by a car while working crowd control during a December 2014 protest about a grand jury decision in the death of Ferguson, Missouri resident Michael Brown. The damage Adsit sustained was so horrific that despite countless hours of rehab and more than two dozen surgeries, he was only able to return to the job for about a week or so over the approximately 29 months that followed.
Sean Crumpler, who pleaded guilty in March to multiple sex-trafficking counts related to underage boys living at what’s been characterized as an orgy house, has now been sentenced to fifty years in prison. In asking for this lengthy punishment, prosecutors rejected any suggestion that Crumpler was taking part in an acceptable alternative lifestyle, and so did the judge in the case, who branded his actions “despicable.”
In 2014 U.S. Senior District Judge Richard Matsch ordered the State of Colorado to retry Mark Ellis, convicted of sexual assault on his daughter, or release him within ninety days. Last week — almost thirty months after the judge’s order — a three-judge panel from the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled Matsch and denied Ellis any relief.
Jamaal Edwards, who was charged with two counts of first degree murder after a double murder in January 2015, has been found guilty of a lesser charge in one of the deaths. In the second slaying, the jury failed to reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial. A new trial has been ordered in the latter case, which took place amid an ugly incident that Edwards is quoted as summing up with the two-word phrase, “Shit happened.”
Cesar Reyes-Marquez has now been found guilty a second time for killing Servando Morelos-Avila nearly seven years ago. The long delay occurred because the first judgment was tossed out over improper jury instructions. The result was a second trial, during which Reyes-Marquez was convicted of similar charges stemming from a fight that spun out of control, with at least two other people winding up seriously injured.
This week’s episode of Showtime’s Dark Net devotes a segment to how Denver financial adviser Steve Talley’s “life was ruined after facial recognition technology tied him to a crime he didn’t commit.”
Denver Police Department personnel took part in twelve officer-involved shootings last year, the most in at least half a decade. On average, a shooting took place once per month in 2016. Six people were killed in the incidents, but no police officers were injured, and neither have any cops been criminally charged to date.
Rocky Allen, an HIV-positive surgical technician sentenced last year to six-and-a-half years behind bars for allegedly swapping out needles in order to inject himself with a powerful opioid, has been ordered to spend an additional year in captivity for taking an unauthorized trip before reporting to prison.
Paralyzed in a police shooting, Darrell Havens fought the system tenaciously — until he passed away, at age 29, in a Colorado Springs hospital.
Brock Franklin has been found guilty on 30 of 34 charges originally pressed against him in an indictment over a violent child sex ring. In addition, five of six alleged Franklin associates accused of taking part in the scheme, which involved physical abuse, a pistol-whipping, forced sex and the use of drugs to maintain loyalty, have received punishment of their own, ranging from deferred sentences to an eighteen-year prison jolt. In the last case, charges were dismissed.
