A Denver jury has convicted Jeffery Sloan of killing the son-in-law of Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and an Iraqi refugee when he sped through a red light at 61 mph last summer at a major intersection.

During a nearly weeklong trial, prosecutors from the 18th Judicial District pointed to circumstances that painted Sloan as the driver of the stolen Jeep that slammed into the victims’ car in the early morning hours of June 9, 2019, despite incomplete evidence from eyewitnesses and video that would have definitively identified Sloan.

“The person who blew through a red light fleeing law enforcement, the person who blew through that intersection and blew through those two lives has been with us in this courtroom the whole time,” District Attorney George Brauchler said during closing arguments. “He’s seated right over there. His name is Jeffery Dean Sloan.”

Brauchler and his deputy, Brian Sugioka, tried the case in Denver District Court. One of the victims, Mark Karla, was married to Alison Suthers, the mayor’s daughter and a prosecutor in the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

The jury convicted Sloan of assault in the first degree, vehicular homicide, and failure to fulfill duties after involvement in an accident involving death, with separate charges for each of the two victims.

Karla, 45, a dentist , had attended a Garth Brooks concert the night of the crash. He died from his injuries several weeks after the accident. He and Alison Suthers have a daughter, Isabelle, 2.

John Suthers and his wife, Janet, were present during the trial.

“We are pleased that the person who acted so recklessly and caused the death of two innocent people will be held accountable,” John Suthers said Tuesday. “Dr. Mark Karla was a terrific man, a great dentist, husband and father. Nothing will heal the wound to our heart and soul from our loss, but we will do all we can to ensure that our daughter and granddaughter have all the support they need to move forward.”

The other victim, Yasir Hasan, 33, was driving for Uber when he picked up Karla. He came to the United States in 2012 from Iraq following al Qaida and ISIS death threats against his family stemming from his brother’s service in the Iraqi military. Hasan’s family said that he became engaged shortly before he died.

“He was so friendly and helpful to anyone that needed help,” they wrote in a statement. “He came to the USA for a better life, for a better future and to live safely.”

Representing Sloan, 37, were Victoria Eidsmo and Sonja Prins with the public defender’s office. During her closing argument to the jury Monday, Eidsmo advanced a theory that prosecutors had charged the wrong man.

“We do not have to come up with the real driver. That is not our job,” she told the jury. “Do not let them confuse you because of the lack of evidence they’ve presented in this case.”

Eidsmo suggested an alternative explanation for the events of June 9: that Sloan had been making a drug deal when another man hopped into the stolen Jeep and took off. It was this second man who plowed into Karla and Hasan, leaving Sloan to take the fall because his jacket, identification, phone and DNA were still in the vehicle.

Brauchler countered that it was unlikely that someone other than Sloan was the perpetrator.

“There is no one else this could be. You would have to origami your brain to come up with an explanation for all of this evidence,” he said.

The prosecutors referenced the fact that there were text messages and calls from Sloan’s cell phone in the hours and minutes leading up to the crash. The phone was password-protected and the person using it was conversing with the woman with whom Sloan was in a relationship.

The case is People v. Sloan.