Brighton – The Adams County district attorney’s office will not seek the death penalty against a man accused of gunning down an Aurora police detective in September.
After a brief court hearing Monday morning, District Attorney Don Quick said Brian Allen Washington, 27, would not face the death penalty. He declined to give a specific reason for the decision.
“At the end of the day, it is my obligation to make the decision based on the evidence, the law and what course is the best choice to ensure that Mr. Washington is held accountable for the murder of Detective Thomas,” Quick said in a statement.
Also at the hearing Monday, Washington’s attorney, Todd Nelson, said Washington intends to change his “not guilty” plea to a plea of “not guilty by reason of insanity.”
Washington is accused of killing Aurora Detective Mike Thomas on Sept. 20 at the intersection of East Montview Boulevard and Peoria Street. Thomas, who had just finished a training session nearby, was in plain clothes and driving his own car when he was shot.
“We understand that the Adams County district attorney’s office had a difficult decision to make regarding this case,” Aurora Police spokesman Bob Friel said.
Friel declined to comment further on Quick’s decision not to seek the death penalty.
Washington was not at Monday’s hearing because he is being evaluated at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo, Nelson said. That evaluation was ordered as part of another case Washington is involved in, one in which he is accused of trying to kill a Denver woman two days before Thomas was killed. Washington has also pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in that case, Denver district attorney’s spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough said.
After being arrested, Washington told Aurora police, “I am a prophet” and “It’s OK, I’m federal, I’m with the nation,” according to court documents. Washington’s mother told police that her son had talked about “how he was God,” in the months before the shootings.
Washington will have to be brought from the Colorado Mental Health Institute to Adams County District Court to formally enter his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, Nelson said. Attorneys scheduled that hearing for April 2.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
