The city of Aurora did right in agreeing to settle claims of four of serial rapist Brent J. Brents’ victims for $240,000. The victims will get $60,000 each. Lawyers who handled three of the cases without charge also are to be commended.
Brents’ rampage came months after he had admitted molesting a young boy in November 2004 but was turned loose by Aurora police. Bureaucratic blunders by the police and the Arapahoe County district attorney’s office delayed getting an arrest warrant until Jan. 26, 2005. Between November and his Feb. 18 arrest, Brents attacked at least 10 more people in Denver and Aurora, including one victim who suffered severe brain injuries. Brents pleaded guilty to multiple charges and got 1,500 years in prison.
District Attorney Carol Chambers of the 18th Judicial District, which includes Arapahoe County, says she doesn’t have the funds or the county commission’s OK to settle the claims. Chambers, who’s said she feels a “social,” if not a legal, responsibility toward the victims, is considering starting a private foundation to aid them once state victims’ assistance funds – capped at $20,000 per person – are exhausted. That’s a good idea, but we’d like to see Arapahoe County offer compensation to Brents’ victims. The law may shield the county, but it doesn’t forbid showing a little humanity, either.
