Brent J. Brents is a vicious and incorrigible predator who must never be allowed even one hour of freedom for the rest of his life.
Fortunately, it is now legally certain that he never will.
From October to February, Brents’ crime spree terrified metro Denver. For society, the important thing now is that he never again will be free: His guilty plea in Denver court to 66 counts of sexual assault, abuse and other crimes earned him more than 1,300 years in prison at the hands of Denver district Judge Robert S. Hyatt. Today, he’s expected to also accept a harsh plea deal in Arapahoe County. In exchange, he will serve his decades behind bars in another state because he fears he’ll be killed if sent to a Colorado prison. The tradeoff is acceptable if that’s what it took to get him off our streets.
The deals spare many of his victims, particularly children, the awful trauma of having to testify against their assailant.
Yet prosecutors would have had difficulty building a case against Brents had it not been for those victims who were willing to speak publicly. During his sentencing on Wednesday, three brave women looked the sexual predator in the eye, denounced him publicly and described the unspeakable pain he had caused them. One victim’s depiction of Brents as “odious” pretty much sums up public feeling. Society owes these brave souls tremendous gratitude. They are no longer just victims; they are witnesses for truth and mortar in the foundation of justice.
We also agree with the assessment by Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey that even if Brents had been sexually abused as a child (an allegation his family denies), there’s still no excuse for his crimes. Brents knew right from wrong. He previously had been offered rehabilitation in prison, which he chose not to attend, and refused to accept parole because of the restrictions that came with it, Morrissey said. Even after reading Brents’ psychiatric report, Judge Hyatt said he could not understand how Brents became the criminal that he is. Before handing down a sentence more than a millennium long, Hyatt concluded that Brents is beyond rehabilitation.
Nonetheless, the case underscores why society needs to prevent child abuse and break cycles of violence. Although his crimes were inexcusable, it is possible that early, concerted and consistent action by social workers or other professionals in Brents’ formative years might have helped keep him from the terribly destructive life he has led.
