July 6, 2005
Contact: Lynn
Kimbrough,
720-913-9025
BRENTS PLEADS GUILTY,
SENTENCED TO 1319 YEARS IN
PRISON
A serial rapist who terrorized the Denver metro area
earlier this year in a series of violent sexual attacks has
pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to more than a lifetime in
prison.
Brent Brents (DOB: 05-12-69) admitted committing all the
crimes he had been charged with and pleaded guilty to 68
individual counts in front of Denver District Court Judge Robert
Hyatt today. Those counts included attempted murder,
sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary, aggravated robbery, sexual
assault on a child, child abuse, menacing, aggravated motor
vehicle theft and vehicular eluding.
Brents was sentenced
immediately to the maximum number of years possible on each
count which totaled 1,319 years in prison.
Several victims
spoke at the sentencing hearing, telling the judge how their
lives had changed since being attacked by Brents. Denver
District Attorney Mitch Morrissey also spoke on behalf of the
several victims who did not attend the proceedings today,
including one woman who died earlier this spring.
Brents did not make
a statement.
A series of attacks
began February 11, 2005 that sparked fear throughout Denver.
The DNA section of the Denver Police Department's Crime Lab
worked 24-hours a day in subsequent days to obtain a DNA profile
which then led to identifying Brents as a suspect. "The
credit for solving this case really goes to the DNA analysts at
the Denver Police Department whose outstanding, relentless work
helped us reach this conclusion today," Morrissey said.
"The DNA identification made it possible for the Denver police
detectives who were also working around the clock to focus all
of their efforts on one suspect and to track him down more
quickly."
After Brents was led
away from the courtroom in handcuffs, the victims and their
families had a chance to speak with and thank all those who had
worked so hard on the case, including Chief Deputy DA Stephanie
Villafuerte, Deputy DA Carlos Samour, as well as several of the
Denver police detectives who were in the courtroom.
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