A man to the was sentenced Monday to 32 years in prison.
Gerald Michael Anthony Gurule, 33, accepted a plea agreement in the killing of Timothy Minnick, 48.
Gurule and two other men went to the nightclub Dec. 12, 2008, intending to break into cars in the parking lot. When Minnick and others went to investigate, Gurule opened fire, killing Minnick, a former Brighton police officer.
Gurule’s girlfriend, Jennifer Lynne Lewis, 34, to life in prison after she was convicted of multiple charges, including first-degree murder, attempted trespassing and three counts of attempted murder in the same case.
Prosecutors described Lewis as the getaway driver the night of the murder and Gurule as the shooter.
Gurule avoided a similar sentence in the slaying by accepting a plea agreement and admitting to charges of manslaughter and attempted first-degree murder.
Minnick’s slaying was a cold case until Gurule and others were indicted by a grand jury last year after investigators reopened the case.
Two other men were linked to the slaying. Charges were dropped against one of them; the other was never charged in the shooting.
Family members that before his death, Minnick was starting to get his life together after two divorces, a bankruptcy filing and losing his business after the trailer he was living in burned down.
“This was a very difficult cold case,” Dave Young, district attorney in the 17th Judicial District, said in a statement. “Under the circumstances, I am very satisfied with the sentence.”
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul
Staff writer Yesenia Robles contributed to this article.
