DENVER
Man pleads guilty to two 2004
slayings
Aaron Bernal pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder on Tuesday, the day his trial was to begin in Denver District Court in the 2004 slayings of Tiffany Witter, 19, and Christopher Skipwith, 23.
Bernal was with Joann Redwillow on Sept. 12, 2004, when they drove to Witter's home in the 3100 block of West Dakota Avenue. Bernal allegedly shot Skipwith after an argument. He allegedly shot Witter at Redwillow's urging.
Bernal faces up to 80 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 23.
Redwillow is serving a 16-year prison sentence. She pleaded guilty to being an accessory to crime.
The two were arrested two days after the shooting when they tried to cross the U.S. border into Mexico at El Paso, Texas.
BRIGHTON
Stabbing death brings 36 years in
prison
One man involved in the 2005 slaying of a 25-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to 36 years in prison for second-degree murder.
Westley J. Ybarra, now 19, also was ordered by District Judge Harlan R. Bockman to spend six years in prison for his conviction of introducing illegal contraband into the Adams County Jail.
The six-year sentence will be on top of the 36 years for second-degree murder. Ybarra also received four years for motor vehicle theft, but that sentence will run concurrently with the other two.
Ybarra stabbed Aaron Rivera during a confrontation at a parking lot outside an apartment building where the victim was living in the 8100 block of Welby Road on Aug. 26, 2005, according to Adams County sheriff's investigators.
The victim also was shot at close range with a shotgun, allegedly by Matthew Wartena, 20. Wartena faces a preliminary hearing on Jan. 26 for a first-degree murder charge for his alleged accomplice role in Rivera's murder.
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