After plea to remove death penalty, man who killed guard receives life in prison
A man who slashed two female correctional officers, killing one and gravely injuring a second during a 2012 Colorado prison rampage, was sentenced to life in prison after he reached a deal with prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table.
Miguel Contreras-Perez, 40, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder of Colorado Department of Corrections Sgt. Mary Ricard and attempted first-degree murder of Sgt. Lori Gann. He attacked the women with a large knife on Sept. 24, 2012, in the kitchen at the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Ordway.
On Tuesday, Pueblo District Court Judge William Alexander sentenced Contreras-Perez to life without the possibility of parole, which will be served consecutive to the 35 years to life in prison sentence he has for a rape conviction, according to court records. His case had been transferred because of intense media coverage.
In the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed numerous charges against him, including assault with a deadly weapon and four sentence enhancing charges for committing a violent crime.
Contreras-Perez is being held in the state’s highest security prison at Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City.
David Lane, ContrerasPerez’s attorney, said prosecutors at the Crowley County District Attorney’s Office sought the death penalty despite the wishes of Ricard’s family, which was “adamantly opposed to taking his life.”
Prosecutors agreed to the plea, which took the death penalty off the table after a judge suppressed some of their most damaging evidence, Lane said.
Within hours after the stabbings, Contreras-Perez admitted to killing Ricard, and trying to kill Gann and at least one other correctional officer.
“I’ll be honest with you. It was all about the body count,” Contreras-Perez said in an interview videotaped the day after the stabbings. But he took a much different tone at his sentencing hearing.
“Miguel Contreras-Perez spoke eloquently and sincerely, expressing his abject remorse at having taken an innocent life and having assaulted Gann,” Lane wrote in a statement after the sentencing.