Lawrence Trujillo pleaded guilty this afternoon to all 13 charges against him in the deaths of three people in LoDo last fall.
Trujillo’s attorney, Rob Bernhardt, said Trujillo wanted to avoid a trial that would force his family and Frank Bingham to relive the night of Nov. 10, when a drunken Trujillo ran over and killed Bingham’s wife, Rebecca, 39, and two children, Macie, 4, and Garrison, 2.
“Lawrence Trujillo is a good person. … He does not want to relive that night,” Bernhardt said after the hearing. “This is everyone’s worst nightmare, when it comes to drinking and driving.”
Bingham said he hopes the judge will not reduce Trujillo’s sentence because Trujillo decided to take responsibility for the crime.
“If he ever comes out of prison, he should be quite an old man,” Bingham told reporters.
Trujillo, 36, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, leaving the scene of a fatal accident and child abuse resulting in death. He faces a minimum of 16 years in prison and a maximum of 174 years.
Bernhardt said prosecutors offered a plea deal of between 40 and 60 years, but Trujillo decided to take responsibility for the crimes and hopes the judge will take that into consideration.
Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney’s office, said the only time she could remember someone pleading guilty without a deal in a major case is serial rapist Brent J. Brents.
Trujillo is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 2.
Staff writer Arthur Kane can be reached at 303-954-1244 or akane@denverpost.com.
