Steve Young Sentenced To Life In Prison For Fatal Shooting As In-Person Jury Trials Resume
BRIGHTON, Colo. (CBS4) -- A judge handed down a life sentence Friday morning in one of the first in-person trials held in the Adams County courthouse in several months due to restrictions put in place to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Steve Young, 45, was given life without the possibility for parole by Judge Sean P. Finn.
A jury found Young guilty of 1st Degree Murder on April 2. His trial began March 26, more than a year after the courthouse first closed its doors out of concern for the spread of COVID-19.
Adams County courts first closed March17, 2020. They were re-opened in September only to close again in November as the number of positive cases began to rise locally and around the state.
"I object to my all-white jury," Young told the judge Friday.
Young attended the trial in person but spoke via remote connection from the jail Friday.
Reading a statement, Young declared the judge biased and was critical of his request to undergo testing for a traumatic brain injury being ignored. Young said he was "denied the right to choose a jury of my own peers."
Young concluded with, "The sentence you're going to give me is unfair."
"I'm sorry you feel that way," Judge Finn replied as Young rose and left the camera's view. "I think your rights were protected."
Young was convicted of fatally shooting John Cyprian, 41, while Cyprian walked with a 33-year-old woman named Charly Lewis on June 1, 2020, along 16th Avenue near Akron Street.
Young was identified as the man who pulled up in a Chevrolet Suburban and crossed the street, shot Young in the abdomen, and drove off the woman.
Cyprian bled to death.
In statements made to investigators, members of Cyprian's family said Cyprian was homeless and using crack cocaine at the time.
Investigators later learned Young and Lewis were dating.
The shooting happened at 12:21 in the afternoon. There were multiple witnesses and the fatal encounter was recorded on several surveillance cameras.
A police informant later spotted the Suburban in the parking lot of an apartment complex in which Young resided. Young and Lewis eventually got into the vehicle and were pulled over. A search warrant was then obtained and evidence from inside Young's Suburban, including clothing matching that on surveillance videos, was gathered.
Witnesses picked out Young and Lewis from line-ups.
Young has 35 days to file for an appeal.
In the meantime, Young heads to Denver District Court where he is accused of killing Lewis a week after Cyprian's death. A status conference is scheduled two weeks from today.
