Man Gets 48 Years for 2015 Murder (Rodriguez)

NEWS RELEASE –

April 11, 2018

Contact: Ken Lane, 720-913-9025

MAN PLEADS GUILTY & SENTENCED FOR 2015 DEADLY SHOOTING

A man charged in the September 2015 shooting death of another man and whose first trial ended in a mistrial pleaded guilty and was sentenced Tuesday in Denver District Court.

Dante Rodriguez (dob: 07-02-1996) pleaded guilty last Friday afternoon to second degree murder (F2) and was sentenced yesterday to 48 years in prison. A mistrial was declared in his March 2017 trial for first degree murder after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. His second trial was scheduled to begin yesterday.

Co-defendant Alexis Ellis (dob: 12-02-1994) was charged with one count of first degree murder (F1), but pleaded guilty in June 2016 to one count of accessory to crime (F4) and sentenced last September to six years supervised probation.

Co-defendant Nick Vandervoort (dob: 03-03-1996) is charged with one count of first degree murder (F1). He is scheduled to appear on April 20 at 1:30 p.m. in courtroom 4G for a status hearing.

The charges in all three cases allege that 26-year-old Donald Johnson arranged to meet Vandervoort in the early morning hours of September 16, 2015, near Sheridan Boulevard and Dartmouth Avenue because Vandervoort owed him money, that Rodriguez and Ellis accompanied Vandervoort to the meeting with the victim and that, instead of paying the victim the money owed, Mr. Johnson was shot and killed.

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