3 guilty verdicts in separate Denver murder cases last week

Three men were found guilty of first-degree murder in separate cases over the last week in Denver District Court.

Three different juries found three defendants guilty of first-degree murder charges in relation to incidents in 2023, according to a news release from the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

The first trial came to an end on Wednesday, with the conviction of Joseph Lash in connection to the March 11, 2023 murder of 18-year-old Rigoberto Esparza outside of a house party in Montebello — near 84th Avenue and Washington Street in Adams County.

The home, labeled the House of Vibes, was booked through a rental app. Its listing was removed from Airbnb shortly after the incident.

Lash will be sentenced on Tuesday and faces life in prison.

The second verdict came on Friday morning when a jury found Tanner Fielder guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in connection to the shooting deaths of 31-year-old Lluvia Robles-Banuelos and 43-year-old Jeremy Hutcheson, according to the release.

Robles-Banuelos was found dead near East 45th Avenue and North Washington Street on Sept. 6, 2023. Hutcheson was gunned down three days later, on Sept. 9, near South Platte River Drive and West Florida Avenue.

A week later, police arrested Fielder after hearing gunshots near West 13th Avenue and Zuni Street. He faces life in prison and is set to be sentenced on Dec. 15.

The third case concluded Friday afternoon with the conviction and immediate sentence of Aron Gamboa-Sidas, according to the release.

Gamboa-Sidas murdered 82-year-old Frank Ortiz on July 8, 2023. Ortiz was walking in the early morning around his west Denver neighborhood offering to pray for people that he came across, according to the release. Ortiz did this every morning.

“Denver is a safer city with these men off the streets. Our hearts go out the families of the victims in these cases, along with the hope that these verdicts bring a measure of justice in each case,” District Attorney John Walsh said.


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