Suspect in shootout gets 8 years in prison
Karr pleads guilty to reckless manslaughter after appeals court overturned conviction
A man sentenced to 26 years in prison for killing another man in an Adams County shootout was resentenced to eight years in prison Monday after his initial conviction was overturned by the Colorado Court of Appeals.
Brandon Karr, 30, pleaded guilty Monday to reckless manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to eight years in prison on each count, to be served concurrently with credit for time served, court records show. He will also be on parole for three years. The remaining charges against him were dismissed as part of the plea deal, records show.
Karr was convicted in 2017 of second- degree murder, nine counts of attempted first- degree murder and two counts of assault for his role during a shootout at an Adams County mobile home park in which two people were killed and two others injured.
Karr was given a 26-year prison sentence, but his convictions and sentence were overturned in 2021 by the Colorado Court of Appeals, which found the trial judge gave the jury flawed instructions on self-defense.
On the night of the shooting, Karr and several family members went to a neighbor’s trailer intending to fight a relative’s exboyfriend, and arrived to find a large group of people gathered. During the fight, which involved four people, another neighbor emerged from his trailer and fired shots into the air.
The neighbor continued to fire as Karr and his group fled, shooting at their vehicle and killing Karr’s cousin, Dustin Karr, 23. Brandon Karr also fired shots toward the neighbor and into the group gathered for the fight as he fled, killing Edgar Loera Munoz, 30, and wounding two others.
Karr claimed during his jury trial that he fired in self-defense. The Court of Appeals found the trial judge gave the jury an incomplete instruction on self- defense and failed to clearly say that a person could act in self-defense in response to the actions of a group of people, not just in response to a single other person, and that jurors should consider the totality of the circumstances when considering Karr’s self-defense claim.
The 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office did not immediately comment on the case Tuesday. Karr, who was taken into custody after the sentencing, could not be reached.