AURORA | An Aurora teenager has been sentenced to a minimum of four decades in state prison for his role in the shooting death of Cherokee Trail High School student in 2019.
An Arapahoe County Judge on Wednesday sentenced Kenneth Gallegos, 19, to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years, according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
In April, jurors convicted Gallegos of first-degree murder and a pair of robbery charges.
Investigators said Gallegos and other teens went to the home of 18-year-old Lloyd Chavez to steal vape juice pods on May 8, 2019.
Chavez was shot and killed during the transaction in Centennial, and authorities said Gallegos orchestrated the killing.
“But for your actions, Lloyd Chavez would be alive,” Judge Ben Leutwyler told Gallegos from the bench. “You set the events in motion.”
First-degree murder charges in Colorado carry a mandatory life sentence for those found guilty, but Gallegos is required to be eligible for parole later in his life because he was not a legal adult at the time of the crime. He was 17 when Chavez was killed.
Chavez’s relatives addressed the court at the recent sentencing hearing, several of whom asked Leutwyler to impose the harshest possible punishment.
“It has been clear to me that he is not sorry for what he did,” Chavez’s grandmother told the court. “I believe he is only sorry that he got caught. It made me sick to my stomach to see him the day he was found guilty and have no reaction.”
A co-defendant who is also accused of participating in the shooting, Demarea Mitchell, is slated to stand for a separate trial on felony murder and robbery charges in July.
How sad that he ruined two lives; Lloyd Chavez and his own.
Hope that he is not free until he is 58 years old.