DENVER • Victims of the 2022 mass shooting at LGBTQ+ nightclub Club Q expressed frustration with the government’s decision not to seek the death penalty at the convicted gunman’s federal sentencing hearing Tuesday.
Anderson Aldrich, who was found guilty on state charges related to the Club Q mass shooting, pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to killing five people and injuring nearly two dozen.
Tuesday’s sentencing came as a result of 74 federal charges filed against Aldrich this year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado. The federal charges include 50 hate crimes and 24 weapons offenses.
The terms of the plea deal and sentence were agreed upon by the prosecution and defense long before Aldrich’s sentencing hearing. The terms of the plea deal included 55 concurrent life sentences and an additional 190 years in prison. Notably, the plea deal eliminated the possibility of the death penalty if the court accepted it.
At the beginning of the hearing, Judge Charlotte Sweeney accepted Aldrich’s guilty plea to all counts before asking the prosecution and defense for statements.
Aldrich’s defense attorney David Kraut spoke of trauma and isolation that led Aldrich to drug addiction and online extremism.
“The reason Anderson (Aldrich) committed these crimes is not a single characteristic,” Kraut said. “All of these factors contribute. Taken together, they increase the risk that Anderson will commit violent acts.”
Prosecutor Alison Connaughty told the court that no verdict or sentence would be enough, but stressed the importance of convicting Aldrich on the 55 hate crime charges.
In the state case, Aldrich pleaded guilty to nearly all counts, but pleaded no contest to the bias-motivated crime charges. Connaughty spoke in court about how important it was for the government to compel Aldrich to admit that the Club Q shooting was a hate crime against the LGBTQ+ community.
This point was reiterated by U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke at a press conference following Aldrich’s conviction.
“We want to send a clear message: we will not tolerate hate in this country,” Clarke said at the press conference.
Ultimately, Sweeney accepted the terms of the settlement and sentenced Aldrich to 55 life sentences plus an additional 150 years. The prison sentence will be served concurrently with Aldrich’s state sentence, in which Aldrich received five life sentences – one for each count of premeditated murder – and an additional 2,208 years in prison for each count of premeditated murder.
Nearly a year ago, Aldrich pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and 46 counts of attempted first-degree murder in a packed Colorado Springs courtroom. Aldrich was charged with 323 counts by the 4th District Attorney’s Office, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, hate crimes and more.
Many of the victims who spoke in court during their statements on Tuesday expressed their displeasure with the government’s decision not to seek the death penalty and instead offer Aldrich a plea deal.
“I don’t think they should be left alive,” Jeff Aston, the father of Daniel Aston, one of the five people who died at Club Q, said in court.
“I wish (Aldrich) could get the death penalty because I want him to live in fear, not knowing if today is his last day,” Adriana Vance, the mother of Raymond Green Vance, one of the victims who died at Club Q, said in court.
“I hope you give him what he deserves because he doesn’t deserve to breathe air right now.”
“How can you even consider not killing him?” a man with the initials PH, whose son was shot at Club Q, said in court. “I know you’re sitting here and you have to do the right thing. The right thing is to give him the damn death penalty.”
“It’s time for the state of Colorado to do the right thing,” said Sharon Gamblin, the mother of Ashtin Gamblin, a survivor of the Club Q attack. “You have to pay with your life. … This is unforgivable.”
The majority of the 15 people who spoke in court echoed the sentiments of Aston, Vance and Gamblin, expressing unhappiness that Aldrich was able to avoid any possibility of the death penalty.
Ashtin Gamblin, speaking in court in a black sweatshirt from the last concert she attended with her best friend and Club Q shooting victim Derrick Rump, was angry that the government is not seeking the death penalty.
“That night, my life was not taken seriously. Aldrich’s life should not be taken seriously either,” said Ashtin Gamblin.
However, this feeling was not shared by all victims.
Wyatt Kent, Rump’s “soon-to-be fiancé” and a drag queen who performed at Club Q the night of the shooting, spoke after the hearing and said he viewed the life sentence as essentially the death penalty.
“I believe Aldrich got the death penalty,” Kent said. “We will never release this man from the Colorado prison system.”
Sweeney addressed the anger many victims felt after they gave their testimony, pleading with everyone in the room not to let Aldrich “take any more away from them.”
Sweeney also pointed out that the court could not have imposed the death penalty when handing down the verdict on Tuesday because a federal court requires a jury to decide whether to sentence someone to death.
Sweeney, Colorado’s first openly gay federal judge, used Matthew Shepard’s murder to make the point that the death penalty may not be best for healing the community.
Shepard was an openly gay student at the University of Wyoming who was killed by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson in 1998.
Sweeney, who said she listened to McKinney’s sentencing at the time, recalled Shepard’s father speaking in court about how a life sentence for McKinney would be the best thing for everyone moving forward and that seeking the death penalty would only drag out the process.
Aldrich was ultimately convicted by Sweeney under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
Clarke was asked several times at the press conference about the federal government’s decision not to impose the death penalty, but declined to comment, saying the reasoning was “internal in nature.”
However, the court, victims and lawyers agreed on one point: Despite Aldrich’s best efforts, he failed to divide Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ+ community.
“You have targeted this community that you live and breathe, Mr. Aldrich,” Sweeney said. “This community is stronger than you.”
Aldrich made no statement to the court on Tuesday, saying, “I will have an opportunity to speak on this in the future.”
According to previous Gazette reports, Aldrich was incarcerated at the Wyoming State Penitentiary.
Clarke confirmed at the press conference that Aldrich remains detained by the Colorado Department of Corrections despite his federal conviction.
Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, Aston, Rump and Vance died in the shooting.
Aldrich’s mother, Laura Voepel, 46, faces charges of resisting prosecution and disorderly conduct after police notified Voepel on Nov. 20, 2022, that Aldrich had been arrested in connection with a murder.
The misdemeanor case continued to be delayed in recent months as Voepel awaited treatment to restore his mental health out of state.
