Man gets 72 years

The driver of a stolen vehicle who ran a red light in Denver, crashing into another vehicle and killing two men, has been sentenced to 72 years in prison.

Jeffrey D. Sloan, 37, of Glendale, was sentenced last week by Denver District Judge John Madden, according to a news release.

In August, Sloan was convicted of vehicular homicide, among other charges, for the June 2019 deaths of Yasir Hasan and Mark Karla.

Hasan was an Uber driver, and Karla was his passenger.

“This is beyond question a horrific tragedy … that never should have happened,” Madden said at sentencing, according to the release. “The victims were doing everything that was right and did nothing wrong. No sentence can reflect the magnitude of the lives lost and their value to their families and community.”

The day of the incident, Sloan, driving at stolen Jeep Liberty at about twice the speed limit, ran a red light at East Colfax Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. He broadsided a Honda Insight driven by Hasan and fled the scene on foot.

Hasan, 33, died at the scene.

Karla, 45, suffered severe injuries and was taken to a hospital, where he died later.

Relatives of both victims attended the sentencing hearing Friday.

“Every week brings another conversation with our 4- year- old daughter about where her daddy is,” Karla’s wife told the court. “It is impossible to overstate the loss the community feels at these two senseless deaths.”

District Attorney George Brauchler and Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Sugioka were appointed special prosecutors in the case.

“My words cannot express the depth of the loss suffered by these families at the hands of the defendant,” Brauchler told the court at sentencing.

Sloan also was convicted of first- degree assaultextreme indifference, leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death, and vehicular eluding.