DENVER — Attorneys representing the murder suspect arrested in the Club Q mass shooting have reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to the Associated Press.
The Colorado Victims Rights Act requires victims to be informed of critical stages of the criminal justice process. Club Q victims interviewed by the AP said they were asked to write witness impact statements for sentencing.
A spokesperson for the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office said they will not speak publicly about the case until June 26, which is the next scheduled court hearing.
Former 18th Judicial District Attorney George Braucher, who prosecuted the murder trial against the gunman arrested in the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting, said a plea agreement in the Club Q shooting is not a bad outcome.
"There's no downside to this," Brauchler said. You get closure for the victims in a way that you can't through a trial because there are years of appeals that take place afterwards."
Brauchler expects the defendant will plead guilty to all of the murder charges and attempted murder charges. He also suspects the parties will move to sentencing at the plea hearing.
The Aurora case was a death penalty case, and Colorado lawmakers have since abolished the death penalty.
Brauchler thinks it still may have played a role here.
"If you ask me why I they're doing this, it's because I think they're trying to get the United States government not to seek the death penalty on this guy for the same behavior under federal law," he said.
A trial would have brought more facts and details about the case to light.
"We're going to miss out on those things, but I think the upside of this outweighs that," said Brauchler.
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