Last week, outgoing Denver District Attorney Beth McCann responded to my Oct. 10 column highlighting recent decisions by her office that raise important questions about her exercises of prosecutorial discretion. I will honor her public response by addressing the points she has raised on this issue.

Three facts are undeniable: reports of violence in Denver have nearly double in the last decade; Denver’s violent crime rate is more than double the national median; the likelihood of becoming a victim of violent crime in Denver is double that of the rest of Colorado.

McCann does not defend any of the generous plea bargains her office has given to murderers, but complains that I used an “artificially narrow set of examples” and that I “cherry-picked” them. She is right, they were cherry-picked. By McCann. From her Press Release website, McCann highlights only four murder sentencings this year; I cited three of them. If there is limited information provided to justify the plea bargains, it is McCann who decided what to withhold from the public.

McCann complains that “Brauchler…knows that sentences are ultimately decided by a judge.” True-ish. McCann knows that. The plea bargain a prosecutor gives dictates the range of sentence the judge can impose in two significant ways. Judges’ discretion in sentencing is limited by the charge to which the DA allows a murderer to plead guilty.

McCann regularly allows Denver’s numerous young murderers to plead guilty to second degree murder instead of taking them to trial on their original first degree murder charge. The sentencing options available to judges for such a bargain are huge. Juveniles convicted of first degree murder must be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. McCann’s decision to reduce the charge empowers the judge to sentence the killers to a mere seven years in juvenile prison — allowing them back onto our streets before they are 25.

McCann now claims no responsibility for the relatively lenient sentence she facilitated. Here is another good indication that McCann agrees with these light sentences: she never objects to the public when they are given. And she continues to give the plea bargains that permit them.

Another tool McCann frequently uses is to limit the judge’s discretion by stipulating to a specific sentence or a range of years of prison. McCann did just that when she gave a plea bargain to 17-year-old cold-blooded murderer Jameel James (while driving a stolen truck, James shot and killed a man in traffic on his way to plan his wedding) and agreed he would face no more than 25 years in prison. The judge gave 22, making this killer eligible for parole in about 11 years. McCann called the sentence “a significant price for this senseless murder.” I cherry-picked that quote from her press release.

Here are some others from the “artificially narrow” list of cases highlighted on McCann’s website.

On Oct. 28, 2023, McCann’s office announced that they charged 17-year-old Keanna Rosenburgh with 28 counts, including seven counts of attempted murder for the shooting of five innocent people outside a night club and then fleeing to California. “This type of behavior cannot, and will not, be tolerated in Denver,” McCann stated in her release.

Last month, McCann’s office allowed the would-be mass murderer to plead guilty to a single count of attempted murder naming all five shooting victims. She also agreed that Rosenburgh should face no more than seven years in juvenile prison. None of that is in McCann’s press releases.

In June 2023, McCann’s office touted a 35-year prison sentence after a jury convicted Neshan Johnson for his role in murdering innocent Pamela Cabriales. What the release does not reveal is that McCann’s office previously offered the adult murderer an opportunity to plead guilty to a reduced charge and serve only seven years in juvenile prison. The plea was so unjustifiable and the public outcry so loud, the judge rejected the plea bargain and McCann’s office reluctantly proceeded to trial.

McCann’s office allowed a 22-year-old man who shot four people — killing two of them — on New Year’s Eve 2022 to reduced charges of second degree murder. As a result, double murderer Levie Diecidue will be parole eligible after only 30 years in prison.

Also last year, McCann’s office allowed another double murderer — this time Matthew Madden — to have a reduced plea to two counts of second degree murder. For stabbing to death his wife and the friend that tried to help her, Madden will now be parole eligible in less than 40 years. That part is not in the press release.

In the months before she replaced serious-on-crime DA Mitch Morrisey, then-state Rep. McCann co-sponsored SB 16-180, which created a vehicle for juvenile murderers to seek early release from prison regardless of how long their earned sentence is. Even a juvenile sentenced to 100 years in prison for their evil conduct can obtain mandatory release from prison in 25-ish years after completing a three year program.

To be clear, the Denver DA’s office is stocked with experienced and well-meaning prosecutors who have convicted many of Denver’s murderers to life sentences. But McCann’s office has emphasized and facilitated greatly reduced sentences of many, many juvenile murderers. I have only addressed a some of the ones highlighted by McCann.

The real question that needs to be asked of McCann by a seemingly disinterested media is “what has McCann done with all the other juvenile murderers she does not highlight on her website?” Many of them will be back on our streets in the next five years or so. Feel safe?

George Brauchler is the former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District and is a candidate for district attorney in the newly created 23rd Judicial District. He has served as an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute. Follow him on Twitter(X): @GeorgeBrauchler.