A male was founded guilty of life in jail without the possibility for parole after he was condemned of shooting and eliminating a female with an AK-47 for strolling her dog near his home.
Michael Close was condemned for the murder of Isabella Thallas in June 2020 and offered a life sentence. He was likewise condemned of the tried murder of her sweetheart, Darian Simon, and sentenced to an extra 48 years in jail.
Thallas and Simon were strolling her dog near Coors Field in Denver, Colorado when the couple stopped near Close’s home.
Close entered into a ‘spoken exchange’ with Thallas and Simon after they prompted the dog to ‘go potty’ on the yard. Simon informed cops that Close shouted to them from a window: ‘are you going to train your dog or simply chew out it!’
Simon reacted ‘mind your own company, Rocko is an excellent dog,’ then attempted to disregard the justification. Close then got an AK-47 and fired 24 rounds at the dog walkers.
Close did not own the attack rifle– he took the weapon from a pal, previous Denver Cops Department Sgt Dan Politica. The policeman resigned from the department after the shooting, the Denver Post reported.
Thallas was pronounced dead at the scene. Simon sustained two gunshot wounds but survived.
Close immediately fled the scene. He took the AK-47 and a handgun and drove into the mountains. He was eventually stopped by authorities on Highway 285 west of his apartment.
That same morning, Close texted his ex-girlfriend that one of his own dogs was attacked at a nearby dog park, prosecutors argued. He then told her that he planned to ‘execute’ the owners of the aggressive dog.
Thallas and Simon were not at the dog park and had nothing to do with the incident. ‘He was stewing and he was welling with anger inside of him,’ Deputy District Attorney McKenna Burke said.
Close pleaded not guilty due to insanity. His lawyers argued that incident happened while he was suffering a nervous breakdown due to childhood trauma, recently losing several jobs, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
‘He disassociated. He was outside of his head. He did not consider anything. He had a mental break and he did not know what he was doing,’ public defender Sonja Prins argued in court.
But prosecutors argued that he was in command of his faculties when he committed the crime. A court appointed doctor said Close suffered from depression and suicidal ideation, but also that these conditions did not qualify him as criminally insane.
After deliberating for just under 3 hours, a jury found Close guilty of all charges. The shooter hung his head and cried as the verdict was read.
‘There’s no winners in this,’ Thallas’s father Joshua told 9News. ‘We go home after this, our family’s broke, I’m still without my daughter.’
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