BRIGHTON — A jury in Adams County Court is expected to get the case of a man accused of murdering an Aurora police detective.
Brian Washington, 29, is accused of killing Detective Mike Thomas in 2006.
Thomas was in civilian clothes when he was shot and killed driving his own car in a busy Aurora intersection. Witnesses say they heard Washington shout numerous things shortly after the shooting.
Washington’s defense team made closing arguments Tuesday morning, saying that Washington was insane at the time of the shooting.
Prosecutors argued that Washington knew what he was doing when he killed Thomas.
“This man with a loaded gun ambushed him, shot him, and killed him. He murdered him in cold blood-deliberate and intentional.
“He took him off the face of the earth too soon and deprived him of the opportunity to continue his career as a law enforcement officer, father, and grandfather,” prosecutor Dave Young said Tuesday in court.
Aurora Police arrested Washington immediately after the shooting. According to a police affidavit, Washington confessed at the scene.
Washington pleaded guilty to an unrelated shooting two days before Thomas was shot. He is serving a maximum penalty of 26 years in that case.
If Washington is convicted in the Thomas murder, the additional penalty could keep him in prison for life.
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