How Dasean Perry’s Bullet Killed a Good Man, Put Pals Behind Bars for Decades

Christian Willis is the third person to be sentenced for playing a role in a robbery-gone-wrong that led to the fatal September 2015 shooting of Darren Bloomquist, a 49-year-old Air Force veteran who was moonlighting as a cab driver to support his disabled wife. According to the Denver District Attorney’s Office, the police report in the case remains sealed. However, we know that Willis and Nicholas McKinney, who were both juveniles when the crime took place, will spend decades in stir even though their older pal Dasean Perry actually fired the fatal shot.

Mass Shootings: At Least 1,864 From Aurora Theater Tragedy to Las Vegas

At this writing, at least fifty people are reportedly dead and hundreds more were wounded after a mass shooting attack by Stephen Paddock during a Jason Aldean appearance outside the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas on Sunday night, October 1. These numbers make it the deadliest event of its kind in U.S. history, but hardly an isolated one. In the five years-plus since July 20, 2012, when twelve people were killed and seventy were injured during James Holmes’s attack at the Century 16 theater in Aurora, 1,864 incidents like it have taken place, according to online estimates.

James Holmes’s Post-“Satan’s Lake of Fire” Moves Land Him in Pennsylvania

Aurora theater shooter James Holmes has been on the move within the prison system since a 2015 attack on him by Mark “Slim” Daniels, who apologized in a letter to our Alan Prendergast for being unable to send the man who killed twelve people and injured seventy others at the Aurora Century 16 theater on July 20, 2012, to “Satan’s lake of fire.” Now, for the first time in more than a year, we finally know his location. At present, he’s being held at the United States penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.

David Flores: My Bank Robbery Bust Wasn’t as Dumb as It Seemed

David Flores doesn’t mind if stories linger online about his 2010 arrest for bank robbery. He was definitely guilty of committing the crime, as he readily admits. But what pisses him off is that those articles portray him as an idiot who was literally caught red handed after trying to use stolen currency stained, along with his fingers, by a dye pack that exploded as he made his getaway. He insists that the truth is a lot more complicated, and a lot less dumb.

Why One Colorado County Took Its Sex-Offender List Offline

Montrose County, on Colorado’s Western Slope, has pulled its sex offender list offline, reportedly because of a recent court ruling in which U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch found that such registries constituted cruel and unusual punishment in the case of three plaintiffs. The action was taken despite the fact that the ruling is specific to the complainants in question, rather than everyone on the roster, and Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has announced her intention to appeal.

New Shooting Shows Gentrification Hasn’t Stopped Violence Near RiNo

Just shy of 4:30 a.m. today, September 20, the Denver Police Department tweeted about a shooting near the intersection of 31st and Marion Street. The condition of the victim, who was transported to a local hospital after reportedly being found in a car, isn’t known at this time. But the incident is one more indication that gentrification in the RiNo, Cole and Whittier neighborhoods hasn’t stopped the violence that has afflicted the area in the recent past.

Chicken “Rescue” Involved Awful Music, Lying to 8-Year-Old, Farm Owner Says

On Sunday, September 17, as we’ve reported, the local animal activist group Denver Baby Animal Save posted a video about what it characterizes as a rescue of three chickens from Long Shadow Farm in Berthoud. Larry and Kristin Ramey, the co-owners of the farm, call it something else: theft that involved a demonstration they believe was staged as a diversion, “terrible” music, undercover operatives, lies and taking advantage of an eight-year-old.

Denver Animal Group’s “Rescue” of 3 Chickens Causes Social-Media Frenzy

Yesterday, September 17, Denver Baby Animal Save posted a Facebook video detailing what the activist group characterizes as the rescue of three chickens from a local business identified elsewhere online as Long Shadow Farm in Berthoud. The clip, on view below, has resulted in an explosion of responses on social media, prompting a debate about whether this action constituted a bold gesture on behalf of respect for all living creatures or criminal behavior.

Stephen Hamper’s Alleged War on Cops Continues — Times Three

Earlier this year, Stephen Hamper was found guilty on multiple counts in the beating of a Denver police officer who he said he would have killed if only he’d been able to get hold of her gun. Since that ruling, he’s allegedly attacked two more law enforcers while in custody awaiting a hearing to determine if he’s a habitual criminal.

The Politics of Defending the Sex-Offender Registry

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch recently ruled that Colorado’s sex-offender registry violates the due-process rights of three plaintiffs, thereby amounting to cruel and unusual punishment. Boulder attorney Alison Ruttenberg, who’s kept the case going for the past four years, lauded this decision because it acknowledged that treating every person on the registry like a violent child predator was patently unfair. But she’s not surprised Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has announced her intention to appeal the decision, especially given rumors that she’s weighing a run for Colorado governor in 2018.

Jurassic Pets Horror Story: The Next Chapter

According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Ken and Lynn Kubic are facing 72 charges of cruelty to animals after authorities discovered that the conditions in their Adams County home were every bit as shocking as those that caused Jurassic Pets, their former business in Thornton, to be shuttered. This claim is supported by photos and a video on view here that makes the couple’s residence look like the set of a horror movie.

Operation Black Rhino’s Final Scorecard — and Meth Dealing From a Taco Truck

After more than two years, the prosecution of a massive federal drug investigation dubbed Operation Black Rhino is nearly over thanks to the conviction of Jorge Loya-Ramirez, a Mexican citizen living in Denver who allegedly used a taco truck as cover to deal nearly 200 pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine in kilogram quantities. And he wasn’t the only Black Rhino target to earn punishment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office reveals that of the 38 others named in one of four federal grand jury indictments related to the inquiry, only one had his case dismissed. Find out what happened to all the defendants below.

Why Shawn Geerdes Got 144 Years for Pot Murder/Arson

Shawn Geerdes has been ordered to spend 144 years in prison for murder and arson in the death of Jason Dosa, his partner in a cannabis business. The length of the sentence speaks to the brutality of the crime, Geerdes’s hefty previous criminal history and the determination of the 18th Judicial District DA’s office, headed by 2018 gubernatorial candidate George Brauchler, who maintained in a recent Westword op-ed that at least eleven marijuana-related homicides have taken place in his jurisdiction since limited legalization of recreational pot in January 2014.

What You Think You Know About Sex Offenders Is Wrong, Attorney Says

As our Alan Prendergast reported, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch has ruled that Colorado’s sex-offender registry violates the due-process rights of three plaintiffs, thereby amounting to cruel and unusual punishment. Boulder attorney Alison Ruttenberg, who filed the case in 2013, sees the opinion as the potential death knell for a law-enforcement tool that, in her view, perpetuates factually dubious notions that fall apart when examined in an evenhanded way.