Del Dawan Bankett, Jr. is only 24-years-old, but he’s scheduled to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. And the facts of the case against him, as laid out by the 18th Judicial District DA’s Office, could hardly be colder or more brutal. Prosecutors…
To our knowledge, Westword has never before published a post about cannibalistic rats. But that’s appropriate, because we’re guessing the officers who discovered hundreds of rats, both dead and alive, in the garage attached to a marijuana grow house hadn’t seen anything quite like what they discovered Wednesday, either. About 10…
Today, Specialist Jeffrey Page, a soldier based at Fort Carson, is expected to be sentenced for the 2014 slaying of a fellow soldier, nineteen-year-old Specialist Adrian Perkins. Page, who’s originally from Ohio, insisted that the killing of Perkins, who he shot in the head as the latter was bringing him…
The Boulder DA did not file a murder charge against Dynel Lane.
Four dozen state inmates who are serving sentences of life without parole (LWOP) for crimes they committed when they were teens got a jolt of hope three years ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such mandatory sentencing schemes for juveniles were unconstitutional. Those hopes got crushed this month…
Why is the Denver Police Department singing the praises of Denver B-cycle? Because a cop recently used one of the ubiquitous red riders to track down a wanted suspect who rabbited when officers moved in. On Wednesday, June 3, according to an account on the Denver Police Department Facebook page,…
A jury deliberated less than an hour last Thursday following a three-day trial in Denver District Court, and afterward, Hasan Jones was acquitted in a drive-by shooting case. But that doesn’t mean he’s the man shot almost two years ago by gang member turned anti-gang activist (and Westword cover-story subject) Terrance…
Amid the ongoing trial of Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, the court hearing the case has released a number of previously unavailable documents to the public. The items include a notebook Holmes sent to psychiatrist Dr. Lynne Fenton, which featured a section entitled “Insights Into the Mind of Madness.” The…
Willie Clark could get a new trial in the 2007 murder of Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams. The Colorado Court of Appeals has ordered a hearing to determine if juror misconduct tainted Clark’s first trial in 2010. One of the jurors admitted that he and some of the others conducted…
Isaiah Hunter wasn’t only sentenced for one horrible crime this week. No, the 24-year-old received punishment for three — incidents so disturbing that they could add up to a life sentence. Assorted arrest documents on view below offer strong arguments for describing Hunter as a serial rapist — an extraordinarily…
The photo above is a surveillance image taken on Sunday, June 7, at Tampa International Airport. On the right is Charlie Enice Brooks, who’d just traveled from her home in Fort Morgan to Florida for a visit with Joseph Pope, described as her childhood friend and sometime boyfriend. But the reunion…
As we’ve reported, there have been plenty of police shootings in Colorado of late. Indeed, there was one at 3:20 p.m. yesterday on the 111000 block of Huron Street, when an officer with the Northglenn Police Department shot a man who allegedly had opened fire on cops responding to a…
A lot of us are curious about dangerous things, but we stop short of trying them out in order not to do harm to ourselves. But Adam Hirtle is apparently an exception to that rule. According to the Colorado Springs Police Department, Hirtle fired a bullet into his own foot…
The assertions made against Lynn Young in an arrest affidavit shared here are disturbing enough. They detail injuries suffered by Aaron Young, her seven-week-old baby, including a skull fracture and a broken femur, that prosecutors believe constitute child abuse. But the allegations against Young are even more troubling in light…
Just a week after a SWAT team standoff in Greenwood Village that resulted in the destruction of a home where a suspect had taken refuge, more officers in military gear were deployed to deal with a man who refused to cooperate with authorities. And for part of the crisis, he…
Denver’s Manual High School has endured more than its share of shakeups and losses over the past few years, including a 2006 shutdown of the place, over the protests of angry students and parents, followed by a much-heralded but tumultuous reboot. Now comes a public appeal from the school’s longtime…
The image above depicts the 2600 block of Monaghan Road in Watkins. As you can see, the area is wide open and desolate. It’s also where the body of Antonio Alvarado Ruiz was discovered. He was murdered. At around 6:22 p.m. on June 3, according to the Aurora Police Department, officers…
Last December, we told you about the arrests of Alysia Lombard and Mario Hollerway after their three-year-old daughter was hospitalized, vomited and then tested positive for THC. Now, the couple has been sentenced, with probation being the main, but not the only, punishment. Continue for additional photos, video and a look…
At this writing, more than seventeen hours have passed since police engaged a man wanted for shoplifting at a Greenwood Village-area Walmart store. In and of itself, stealing merchandise from a box store doesn’t sound like the crime of the century. But the incident has escalated into a standoff that…
It was among the most shocking incidents of 2013, involving murder in broad daylight, shotgunned feet and an alleged attempt to cause an explosion. The terror only ended after the suspect, Daniel Abeyta, was shot by cops who’d responded to the scene — and whose actions were deemed justified. Nearly…
Back in January, seventeen-year-old Jessie Hernandez was killed by police while she was behind the wheel of a stolen car. The incident spawned protests against alleged excessive force, a petition calling for a federal investigation and scrutiny from Denver’s Independent Monitor, who raised questions about Denver police policy in regard to shooting…
Last week, we told you about the late Wednesday, June 3 murder of Bill Connole, 65, near a Loveland street corner. We also noted that investigators were looking at the possibility that it was linked to the death of Windsor’s John Jacoby and the highway shooting of Cori Romero, both…
