Former District Attorney George Brauchler predicted the first convicted murderer in the Green Valley Ranch arson that killed five Senegalese residents would see a drastically reduced jail sentence of 25 years, thanks to Democrat lawmaking gone horribly wrong.
Brauchler was wrong.
Dillon Siebert was sentenced this week to just 10 years in juvie.
That’s seven years in a medium security faculty for juveniles in Pueblo, and three years in a residential youth center.
It doesn’t appear the legislature is to blame for this weak sentencing.
Instead, we can thank Denver District Attorney Beth McCann, one of Colorado’s super-progressive district attorneys who are more interested in justice for the criminal than for the victim.
17-yr-old Dillon Siebert was sentenced today after pleading guilty to 2nd degree murder & to using a weapon during a violent crime for his role in an 8/2020 arson homicide that killed five people. https://t.co/dKsMMpvFZq pic.twitter.com/JcMlgU8kSR
— Denver DA’s Office (@DenverDAsOffice) February 2, 2023
From Brauchler’s column in the Denver Gazette:
Events reported in just the past few days remind us of how the “we know best” philosophy of criminal justice reform under the Gold Dome can work predictable injustices in the real world.
On Aug. 5, 2020, 17-year-old Dillon Siebert and two other teenagers murdered a Senegalese family of five by burning them to death in their home. Included in the five victims were a two-year-old toddler and six-month-old infant. Burned to death. Picture that. Murderer Siebert was charged with first degree murder and 46 other counts, but allowed to plead guilty to second degree murder this past Monday, Jan. 30. That decision has huge consequences for Wednesday’s sentencing due entirely to a watering down of our sentencing laws by the 2016 General Assembly.
It appears Siebert’s light sentence is because the crime was motivated by petty vengeance — the house was set on fire believing a person inside had stolen a cell phone.
The criminal cases against the two other teen suspects — Gavin Seymour and Kevin Bui, who both were charged as adults — are on hold until May, when the Colorado Supreme Court is expected to review the constitutionality of a search warrant that was critical to identifying them as suspects.
The three teens set the Green Valley Ranch home on fire on Aug. 5, 2020, because Bui erroneously thought a person who stole his phone lived there and he wanted revenge, law enforcement officers said during a November 2021 court hearing.
The five dead weren’t victims of hate crimes, so Siebert is a strong candidate for rehabilitation, rationalizes the DA’s office.
The family of the victims are not as forgiving and say that justice was denied.
PeakNation™ is very familiar with McCann’s history as Denver’s DA. Read more about her here.
Look at who participated in a Soros-funded junket for prosecutors to Portugal. Denver’s own soft-on-crime District Attorney Beth McCann, who infamously dropped murder charges against the unlicensed security guard hired by 9News who shot and killed Lee Keltner during a 2020 conservative political rally.