The state Supreme Court today ordered a new sentencing hearing for a man convicted as a teen in the shotgun slayings of two Colorado Springs boys, saying the judge failed to fully explain his decision to sentence the man as an adult.
Gary Flakes was 16 when an accomplice killed Scott Hawrysiak, 15, and Andrew Westbay, 13, on Valentine’s Day in 1997. Flakes was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and accessory to murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Flakes and Jeron Grant, who was 17 at the time of the killings, were charged with first-degree murder. Grant was convicted of accessory to second-degree murder and accessory to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Flakes and Grant set out to shoot someone and randomly picked the two boys.
In his appeal, Flakes’ attorneys said the trial judge failed to consider sentencing him as a juvenile.
In a 6-0 ruling with one justice not participating, the Supreme Court also rejected arguments that the law under which Flakes was charged as an adult in district court was unconstitutional.
