A man recently sentenced to eight decades in prison for murder in two Aurora stabbings took a deal and pleaded guilty this week to killing his Denver cellmate in an unrelated case, court records show.
Ricky Roybal-Smith, 38, pleaded guilty on Thursday to second-degree murder and DUI in the Denver case, a deal that dismissed the original first-degree murder charge, according to court records. Denver District Court Judge Andrew Luxen sentenced Roybal-Smith to 56 years in prison during the disposition hearing, which will run concurrently with his other prison sentence, court records show.
“In just over two days in metro Denver, Ricky Roybal-Smith murdered three men in cold blood,” . “Today’s sentence, alongside severe sentences in Adams County, ensures that Roybal-Smith will spend the rest of his life in prison, which is where he belongs given his horrific and senseless crimes.”
Roybal-Smith strangled his cellmate, Vincent Chacon, in Denver’s Downtown Detention Center after being arrested in connection with a hit-and-run on June 30, 2025, police said. He was already in custody there when Aurora police linked him to the two fatal stabbings that happened on June 29, 2025.
The Aurora victims, 27‑year‑old Jesse Shafer and 61‑year‑old Scott Davenport, were both found dead with dozens of stab wounds, police said.
Roybal-Smith took a deal and pleaded guilty in March to two counts of second-degree murder in the stabbings, which dropped two charges of first-degree murder from his case, according to court records. Adams County District Court Judge Brett Martin sentenced Roybal-Smith to 40 years in prison for each of the men’s deaths, court records show.
