Ricky Eugene Bailey, Denver’s “Raspy Robber,” was sentenced Monday to 96 years in prison for a series of holdups of small businesses.
Bailey, 48, was defiant in court Monday. He claimed prosecutors never proved he was the man responsible for the holdups at liquor stores, restaurants, gas stations and a hair salon in fall 2004, even though a Denver jury found Bailey guilty on Nov. 9.
“You go ahead and do whatever you have to do,” Bailey ranted at Denver District Judge Morris Hoffman. “Not one fingerprint or witness said I did it!”
But Hoffman told Bailey that during his trial, he had heard the victims and the evidence. “I can’t remember a case that had more compelling evidence,” Hoffman said, alluding to Bailey’s confession, DNA evidence and a statement by a co-defendant.
Hoffman said he would never forget one victim, a convenience-store clerk who had a gun at her head and was having trouble getting a safe open. The robber warned the woman that if she didn’t get the safe open quickly she’d be dead, according to testimony.
“He started counting backward -‘9, 8, 7 …”‘ said the judge.
Police coined the Raspy Robber nickname because victims reported a robber with a hoarse-sounding voice.
After he was arrested in November 2004, Bailey confessed to committing around 20 robberies, prosecutor Doug Jackson said. The jury only heard that Bailey had confessed to “multiple robberies.”
Bailey could have received a maximum of 384 years in prison. But the judge said he thought that 96 years was sufficient. The jury convicted Bailey of five counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of attempted aggravated robbery.
Charles Garcia, Bailey’s lawyer, told the judge that such a sentence would make Bailey nearly 100 years old before he would be eligible for parole.
Jackson said that the number of terrified victims and holdups as well as Bailey’s life as a career criminal justified a long sentence.
“The victims are literally carrying a life sentence,” Jackson said. “It was very emotional for them to live through the crime and come in here and relive the crime.”
Bailey’s father, Harold E. Bailey, was a member of the Denver Police Department’s infamous 1960s ring of safecrackers and burglars – officers who were convicted of stealing more than $165,000 in 145 break-ins.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
