Fairplay – A young man convicted as a teenager of killing his best friend in a triple murder will not have his 60-year sentence reduced, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Isaac Grimes, now 20, appeared in Park County Court without an attorney and declined to argue in favor of having his sentence reduced, despite receiving a letter from the victim’s mother offering her forgiveness.
“I do not intend to seek any sentence reduction,” Grimes told District Judge Kenneth Plotz. “I’m not concerned with the sentence … and I’m not prepared to offer any arguments.”
Grimes was convicted along with schoolmates Jonathan Matheny and Simon Sue in the Dec. 31, 2000, slayings of Tony Dutcher and his grandparents, Joanna and Carl Dutcher, at their rural Park County home.
Authorities described the group as a small paramilitary gang ostensibly formed to aid rebels in ringleader Sue’s native Guyana, but which targeted the family after a perceived ethnic slur by Carl Dutcher.
In court Wednesday, Grimes read without expression the letter from Jennifer Vandresar – in prison herself for vehicular hom icide after a drunken-driving episode prompted by her despair over the death of her son – that she directed to the judge.
“After years of healing and a thousand prayers, I sit down to write this letter, a letter I couldn’t have imagined writing four years ago,” read Vandresar’s hand-printed letter. “I no longer harbor ill feelings for Isaak (sic). As a matter of fact, I forgive him and love him. The pain of losing Tony has dulled a little, and memories of a kind, funny, loving Isaak are once again surfacing.”
Vandresar said she learned that Grimes – once the youngest inmate in the Department of Corrections – was struggling emotionally in prison, and “unlike the other defendants, shows such remorse (that) he is determined to suffer each day as much as he can.”
Last year, taking into account Grimes’ critical confession and his willingness to testify against the others, Plotz cut his prison term by 10 years, but the state Court of Appeals overturned the decision because the sentence-reconsideration hearing wasn’t held within a “reasonable amount of time.”
The appellate court said the sentencing judge should reconsider whether Grimes abandoned his effort to have his sentence reduced. If he did, the 60-year sentence stood. If he didn’t, the court said, he could be resentenced.
Plotz, who has since retired and now serves on select cases as a senior judge, repeatedly asked Grimes on Wednesday if he would like legal help or if he could offer any justification for the 32-month delay between the time that his attorney filed the motion for reconsideration and the actual hearing.
“I have nothing to argue, your honor,” said the rail-thin Grimes. “I’m quite indifferent to any change in my sentence.”
Deputy District Attorney Sean Paris argued that the delay was unwarranted and that any chance for sentence reconsideration was “abandoned” when Grimes – then represented by defense attorney Dale Parish – failed to push for a prompt hearing and appeared to be “judge shopping” by waiting for Plotz to retire.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
