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On Halloween night of 2015, 34-year-old Richard Darling allegedly committed a truly horrific crime. He was accused of murdering an acquaintance, Rey Pesina, then dismembering and “filleting” his body before putting it in a barrel and setting it ablaze. More than two years later, Darling has been found guilty of first degree murder, and in the wake of the verdict, the 18th Judicial District DA’s office released his arrest affidavit, which offers shocking details on the circumstances that led to Pesina’s death.

After Joshua Cummings was arrested for the January 31, 2017, execution-style slaying of RTD security officer Scott Von Lanken, his statements about being a soldier for the Islamic state suggested that the killing might have been an act of terrorism. But at trial, the simple, shocking facts of the case, not ISIS, took center stage, and at the conclusion of a brisk three day’s worth of hearings, Cummings was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Hours after the January 24 murder of Adams County Deputy Heath Gumm, the name and a past booking photo of arrested suspect Dreion Martise Dearing began to surface in local and national media reports. But in the wake of a tweet asking several Denver outlets to remove the mug shot or any reference to Dearing, Adams County Sheriff Mike McIntosh essentially castigated the press for compromising the Gumm investigation, even though all of the information appears to have been obtained from official law enforcement sources.

The Colorado Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s decision to reverse David Bueno’s first-degree murder conviction because evidence that might have helped him was withheld in his death penalty case. To attorney David Lane, who represents Bueno, the ruling casts shame on prosecutors with the 18th Judicial District DA’s office currently occupied by Colorado Attorney General candidate George Brauchler even as it and other controversial cases, including those pertaining to death row residents Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray, undermine the argument for capital punishment in general.

A manhunt continues at this writing in the fatal shooting of Adams County Deputy Heath Gumm while on duty in Thornton last night, January 24. Two suspects are being sought in the second slaying of a metro-area law enforcer in 25 days, and a fundraiser for the Gumm’s family has already been launched.