Last week in a Jefferson County courtroom, attorneys argued about what evidence should be admissible in a trial of one of the most disturbing cases in recent memory. Nearly one year ago, three 18-year-olds participated in throwing a landscaping rock through the windshield, face and skull of an innocent 20-year-old woman, killing her as she drove home. They had done it many times before without regard to the injuries or death they caused. This time, they circled around to take a picture of their handy-work for “a memento.”

This is not a column about those allegations – and they remain mere allegations – until three separate juries render their verdicts this summer.

Instead, this is a discussion of how the legislation generated by an out-of-touch, offender-centric legislature impacts the pursuit of justice in such a horrific case of first-degree murder.

Stay up to speed: Sign up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

Prior to full Democrat control of the legislature in 2019, an adult of any age who committed first-degree murder in Colorado faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. That constitutional sentence recognizes the evil of the act, the magnitude of the loss, the need to protect the public and the importance of punishment. In fact, Colorado lists punishment as the primary purpose of sentencing in criminal cases.

Particularly aggravated murders could be eligible for the death penalty. In 2020, the Dem legislators and Gov. Jared Polis repealed the death penalty, lowering the ceiling for potential punishment for mass murder and the murder of children and cops to the same level as gang members shooting each other over drug territory.

The following year, the Dem legislators and Polis changed the law through House Bill 1209 to lower the penalty for violent crimes – no matter how many times repeated, nor how many victims created – for criminals aged 18 to 20. The progressive-championed law declares – without evidence – that “many offenders currently serving (prison) sentences… no longer present a threat to public safety,” as if that was the primary basis for incarceration. It is not.

The law further proclaims such a drastic reduction in lengthy prison sentences “creates hope” for the convicted violent felons who committed the heinous acts. Hope. For violent criminals. That is the focus of those in charge of our state government.

This is how the Hope for Violent Felons law works in the Jeffco rock-throwing murder case.

If each of the accused murderers is given no plea bargain and is convicted at trial of first-degree murder, they will serve life in prison without parole. At least until the next Dem-controlled legislature or a weak-in-the-knees governor reduces their sentences through either legislation or clemency. And those things have happened.

However, if the 1st Judicial District DA’s Office offers any plea bargain on Murder 1-any – that alleged killer will be paroled back into our community. The question is “when?”

The law says those adults convicted of violent crime must serve 75% of their sentence before being parole eligible. That is a lie and everyone, including the judge who sentences violent criminals to prison, knows it. Under Colorado’s deliberately obscure and broken sentencing scheme – which includes good time, earned time, didn’t-rape-a-fellow-prisoner-in-the-shower time – violent criminals are parole eligible at just under 50% of their sentences. By the way, raping a fellow prisoner in the shower can cost a violent felon 60 whole days of good time per Department of Corrections disciplinary rules.

Thus, a defendant convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to the maximum 48 years in prison would likely become parole-eligible in fewer than 24 years. What if a DA offered a plea bargain involving multiple counts, the sentence for which would be added together – called consecutive sentences? Why, then, a DA could get a 120-year sentence and the violent felon would not be parole-eligible for nearly 60 years.

That does not apply here. Instead, through the Dems’ HB 21-1209, no matter how many years an 18-to-20-year-old murderer is sentenced to – 100, 1,000, 1 million – he will likely be paroled at 30 to 35 years.

As you read about any violent crime – regardless of number of victims or how often it is repeated – if it is committed by an 18-to-20-year-old (old enough to vote, buy a house, join the military), any sentence other than “life in prison” is fake. We can have no hope that those in power will come to their senses or come to our rescue. Instead, they have reserved hope for the violent amongst us.

George Brauchler is the former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District and is a candidate for district attorney in the newly created 23rd Judicial District. He has served as an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute. Follow him on Twitter(X): @GeorgeBrauchler.