Fairplay – A young man convicted of killing his best friend in a triple homicide will not have his 60-year sentence reduced, a judge here ruled this morning.
Isaac Grimes, representing himself during this morning’s sentence reconsideration hearing, did not challenge the prosecutor’s case that his original sentence in the throat-slashing death of 15-year-old Tony Dutcher should stand.
“I do not intend to seek any sentence reduction,” he said. “I’m not concerned with the sentence language and I’m not prepared to offer any arguments today.”
The judge and Grimes were both presented with a letter from Dutcher’s mother, Jennifer Vandresar, in which she recommended the sentence be reduced, Grimes said.
Vandresar – in prison for vehicular homicide after a drunken-driving episode prompted, she says, by her despair over the death of her son five years ago – wants to help Grimes “have some hope that he could have a life outside of prison and to get the kind of treatment that he needs,” her sister told the Denver Post in an earlier interview.
The prosecutor today pointed out that Vandresar’s stance is not shared by everyone, and that the victim’s family seems to be divided on the issue. Dutcher’s grandparents Carl and Joanna Dutcher also were slain on Dec. 31, 2000, night by Jonathan Matheny, who participated with Grimes in what was described as a paramilitary club led by classmate Simon Sue at
Palmer High School in Colorado Springs. Matheny’s sentence is scheduled to be reconsidered on Friday.
Grimes, now 20, received his GED in prison but has recently found himself in “a very dark place,” his mother said, in part because a similar hearing a year ago resulted in a 10-year reduction that was overturned on a technicality. Late last year, the Colorado Supreme Court sent the sentences against both Grimes and Matheny back to District Judge Kenneth Plotz for reconsideration, contending that lengthy sentence enhancements included in their prison terms were improper because both were resolved through plea bargains.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
