BRIGHTON, Colo.—A man convicted of shooting and killing an Aurora police officer has been sentenced to 80 years in prison.
Brian Allen Washington, 29, was convicted last month of second-degree murder in the 2006 death of Mike Thomas. The sentence, imposed Monday in Adams County District Court, was the maximum.
Thomas, 52, was in plainclothes and in his personal car when he was killed.
The defense argued Washington was mentally ill and didn’t know Thomas was a police officer.
Washington’s attorney, Sharlene Reynolds, said he suffered from a schizoaffective disorder and believed God wanted him to kill. She said he also believed he was the “one true prophet” and thought he could control the weather with his moods.
Prosecutors sought a first-degree murder conviction, which would have meant life in prison without the possibility of parole. They said Washington killed Thomas because he believed police were following him on suspicion of selling drugs and shooting at a woman a few days earlier.
Prosecutors said Washington admitted to the first officer who arrived at the scene, Scott Osgood, that he killed Thomas. He then tried to take Osgood’s gun and punched him. A guard from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons drove up during the scuffle and helped Osgood arrest Washington.
The jury convicted Washington of second-degree assault and attempted first-degree assault for the fight with Osgood.
Days before shooting Thomas, Washington fired at a woman near his northeast Denver home, authorities alleged. He later said he believed the woman was from the FBI and that he was being followed.
Washington faced an attempted murder charge in that case but accepted a plea deal and was sentenced in 2007 to 26 years in prison for first-degree assault.
Before being brought to the Adams County Jail for trial Feb. 6, Washington was being held in the state’s San Carlos Correctional Facility in Pueblo.
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Information from: The Aurora Sentinel,
