Some Cases of Parricide

A JUVENILE JUSTICE ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION

Because All Kids Deserve a Second Chance

SENTENCES OF OTHER COLORADO TEENS WHO KILLED A PARENT OR GRANDPARENT (Two teens who received life sentences are highlighted to the right in red.) (Note that an adult child who kills a parent gets a lower sentence than a teen. Two such cases are highlighted on the right in blue)

(2011) Burlington 12-year-old Accused of killing two parents and wounding two siblings.

Charged as a juvenile.

(2011) Fourteen-year-old John Caudle shot his mother and step-father to death after a lifetime

of abuse at the hands of the mother. John received 22 years in the adult prison system. (Monte

Vista area).

(2010) 16-year-old Colorado Springs girl prosecuted in the fatal shooting of a man accused of

sexually assaulting her. (Family member?) Prosecutors accepted a guilty plea of manslaughter. The case remained in juvenile court, where the girl faces two years of probation plus

counseling when she is sentenced on May 25, 2011. (2007) Tess Damm, 15, and accomplice Bryan Grove,17, stabbed Damm’s alcoholic, abusive

mother to death. Tess Damm pled to 23 years. Grove plea bargained to 40 years.

(2005) Christopher Paul killed his grandmother by shooting her in the head on April 26,2004.

Pled guilty to reckless manslaughter. Originally charged as an adult with first-degree murder,

but prosecutors decided a jury would likely have convicted him of reckless manslaughter.

Sentenced to YOS for -5 years. Received early release in 2007. Colorado Springs judge

Barney Iuppa stated, “If society demands a pound of flesh for the crime Chris Paul committed,

I’m satisfied that pound of flesh has been delivered.” (2004) Michael Fitzgerald, 16, killed his father. Pled to 62 years. Sent to a mental hospital.

Accomplice juvenile Michael Tate received JLWOP though Jeffco DA could have tried him under

2006 law sentencing him to 40 years. (2004) Staci Lynn Davis, 13, pleaded guilty to shooting her mother to death at the Arapahoe

Park Racetrack. She was sentenced to seven years in the

state youth corrections system.

(1999) John Engel, 14, convicted in the deaths of his mother and grandmother in the family's

Longmont home on Dec. 11, 1999. Received 32 years, released after 8. A Boulder County judge reconsidered his sentence in

2008 and gave Engel a chance to finish his time in a community-based correctional program.

Engel violated the terms of his new sentence, however, and was sent back to prison last year

for 25 years.

(1999) Jason Spivey, 17, faced life in prison if convicted in the sexual assault and death of his

grandmother in her Denver home. He allegedly confessed to strangling his grandmother and

stabbing her dog. Received 48 years. Is eligible for parole in 2020.

(1998) Leon Gladwell, then 17, is serving a 40-year prison sentence for beating his

grandmother to death with a tire iron in Boulder in January 1998. Est. parole date 2017.

(1994) Jenna Smythe, then 19, is serving 30 years in prison for conspiring with two adults to

stab her mother and a 15-year-old runaway to death in Smythe's Arapahoe County apartment

in 1994. (No longer in DOC data base.)

(1988) Charles Limbrick, 15, killed his mother in Colorado Springs. Sentenced in 1999 to life

for first-degree murder. (Sentence of 40 years) Received a limited commutation and was

eligible for parole in December 2016, 12 years earlier than before the grant. Received second

commutation in 2010 by Governor Ritter and was released in July, 2011.

(1987) Richard Mijares, 17, killed his mother, covered her with rocks and buried her in a

secluded area. Then reported her missing. conviction for second degree murder. Released to

community corrections in 2004. (1986) Herman Douglas French Jr., then 14, choked, beat, shot and stabbed his mother to

death in her Broomfield apartment. He remains on probation until 2007. (1986) Larry Long Jr., then 18, stabbed his parents and a 17-year-old brother to death in their

sleep in Longmont. He pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 48 years

in prison, with no chance of parole before before 2010. “On Easter morning, 1986, Larry, then

age 18, woke up and stabbed his younger brother Ronald 'Randy' Long, and both his parents

Leroy and Carol Ann to death.Randy attended Skyline High School. Randy, in fact, had just

turned 17. There was no reason given at the time of the arrest, he pled guilty and in December

that year was sentenced to a mere 48 years. Unfortunately, he is being allowed a second

parole hearing in November 2012, his first was in 2004.” From a victim.

(1983) Ross Michael Carlson, then 19, shot and killed his parents execution-style on a dirt

road in Douglas County in 1983. His lawyers claimed he suffered from multiple-personality

disorder. It took six years before the courts declared him competent to stand trial. He died of

leukemia before trial. (1983) Michael Shane Wilkerson, then 14, beat and stabbed his mother in their Aurora home,

then drowned her in the bathtub, in 1983. Relatives told investigators the woman ignored,

belittled, neglected and humiliated her son. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and

was sentenced to two to four years in a youth treatment facility in Denver.

(1964) William James Bresnahan Jr., then 16, stabbed and beat his parents to death during a

summer camping trip in Summit County in 1964. He confessed and served more than 10 years

in prison before then-Gov. Dick Lamm commuted his sentence in 1977. Former Gov. Roy

Romer pardoned Bresnahan in 1987. Bresnahan became a doctor in California and last year

tried, but failed, to win medical privileges in Denver.

We have no statistics on youth who killed their parents and were sent to the Closed

Adolescent Treatment Center, which closed in 1993, though we know of at least three. Since

they were charged as juveniles, records are sealed. 1991 quote from Jackie Robards, therapist at CAT House. “Of the 17 youths who have been

paroled over the last 8 years, I don’t know of any who have hurt another person.”

(2009) Jeremiah Raymond Berry, 22 pled guilty to manslaughter after shooting his 42- year-old father, Jack Berry, in the head, dismembering his corpse and feeding pieces to the coyotes. Father had been sexually abusing him. He will spend three years in prison and 10 years of intensive supervised probation after his release. (2003) Thomas Martinez, 38, doused his father with kerosene and set him ablaze with a cigarette lighter. Ernest Montoya, 58, died several weeks after the 2003 incident during his birthday party. Martinez pled guilty to second-degree murder; faced at least 16 years in prison with the possibility of parole in five years.

(1998) Nathan Ybanez, then 17, is serving a life sentence without parole for beating his mother to death with a fireplace tool and strangling her in her Douglas County apartment in June 1998. (1992) Jacob Ind, then 15, is serving two life sentences without possibility of parole for killing his abusive mother and stepfather in their Woodland Park home. Mary Ellen Johnson, Executive Director of the Pendulum Foundation, has written a book detailing Jacob’s tragic life.

To receive a copy of THE MURDER OF JACOB, signed by the author, please send $30.00 plus $4.95 shipping/handling to: Mary Ellen Johnson Box 38074 Colorado Springs, Co 80937 or contact: Mary Ellen via email About the Two CO Teens Who Received Life Sentences History: Colorado has 2 teens, Nathan Ybanez and Jacob Ind, who are serving life without parole (LWOP) for killing their abusers. Nathan Ybanez’s co-defendant, Erik Jensen, did not participate in the killing of Nathan’s mother, but also received a life without parole sentence. Jacob Ind’s co-defendant, Gabrial Adams, initiated and fully participated in the killings. Adams, who is severely mentally ill, received life without parole.

Before 1991, a life sentence was not defined as life without parole. Historically over the past 30 years, life meant 10, 20, 40 and then LWOP. Governor Richard Lamm pardoned a teen, Michael Bresnahan, who killed his parents. Bresnahan became a doctor. Governor Romer commuted the sentences of 4 battered women. Governor Owens granted a limited commutation to Charles Limbrick, who received a 40 to life sentence for killing his mother. Governor Ritter, who created Colorado’s juvenile clemency board at the urging of The Pendulum Foundation, D.A. Dave Thomas, and Rep. Cheri Jahn, has denied all juvenile commutations and pardons.

Ridder-Braden/2005 POLLING QUESTION REGARDING COMMUTING SENTENCES FOR COLORADO TEENS When applying for clemency from the Governor, should a juvenile who kills a parent but is shown to have been molested by the parent be treated the same as other applicants, or given more lenient treatment? Total Favor = 92% Don’t know or Not Applicable = 8%

There have been so many cases of Parricide it is almost impossible to comprehend. But it is more common among our youth than most experts want to admit. But in most cases, the reasons behind these crimes involve abuse, either physical or sexual, as well as mental bullying and in some cases all of the above.