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Springs teen gets 5 years for attack on mom

A judge Wednesday sentenced a 15-year-old Colorado Springs boy to up to five years in juvenile prison for shooting and stabbing his mother.

Fourth Judicial District Judge David L. Shakes imposed the sentence on Daniel Gudino, who turns 16 in July.

On March 3, a jury found Gudino guilty of attempted-first degree murder for the May 18, 2009 attack on his mother Marina in the kitchen of their home in the 1800 block of Chapel Hills Drive. The jury also found him guilty of first-degree assault and illegal discharge of a weapon.

But the jurors deadlocked on whether the teen was guilty of the first-degree murder of his 9-year-old brother Ulysses Jr. who was shot to death in the basement of the home that day.

On Wednesday, Gudino pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide in his brother’s death.

That plea enabled him to avoid a retrial on the murder charge. Instead, he got a two year sentence for his plea, to run concurrent with two year sentences for the assault and weapons charge.

Because Gudino was tried as a juvenile and not as an adult, he can’t be held by the Division of Youth Corrections beyond his 21st birthday. He will be eligible for parole when he turns 18.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Shannon Gerhart called the outcome, “a fair resolution to the case, noting the limits on juvenile sentencing.

During his trial, Gudino’s public defenders argued that he may have been sleepwalking during the attacks and that he suffers from mental illness.

Prosecutors countered that the boy acted deliberately and consciously when he picked the lock on a gun cabinet and loaded bullets into the .22 caliber rifle used to kill his brother.

Deputy Public Defender Noreen Simpson said the case pointed out flaws in the juvenile justice system. Gudino was unable to get mental health treatment in the nearly two years since his arrest. But now that he’s convicted, he will get those services, she said.

Nine people – including Gudino’s parents – stood when Simpson asked for the people who were there for the teen to stand.

“Your honor, Daniel is sick and he’s been sick a long time,” Simpson said. “He won’t ever have to cry out for help again. These are the people he can call out to for help.”

Neither Gudino nor his parents addressed the judge. But the parents’ lawyer Daphne Burlingame told Shakes, “They don’t hold Daniel responsible for the death of his brother or the attack on his mom.”

In an unusual move, six of the jurors who found Gudino guilty of the attack on his mother returned to court for the sentencing.

Several of the jurors said they did so at the judge’s suggestion in hopes of finding some closure in the case, which they deliberated for five days.

“I felt the sentence was fair,” said juror James Logan. “I feel he (Gudino) has admitted what he did.”

For more court coverage, visit “The Sidebar” blog at gazettedev.gazette.com

 

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