Colo. school shooting suspect pleads not guilty

Criminal Law

A man accused of shooting and wounding two eighth-graders outside their middle school pleaded not guilty Monday by reason of insanity.

Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood, 32, entered his plea in Jefferson County District Court, and was ordered to undergo a mental evaluation at the state Mental Health Institute in Pueblo. The evaluation would take at least 45 days.

Eastwood faces 15 charges, including attempted first-degree murder in the Feb. 23 shootings outside Deer Creek Middle School in south suburban Denver. Teachers tackled and restrained Eastwood until deputies arrived.

He faces decades in prison if convicted of the charges or an indefinite amount of time in a mental health institute if found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Before Eastwood accepted the plea, District Judge Christopher Munch told him that "commitment could be the rest of your life." Eastwood nodded that he understood.

Prosecutors are seeking access to observations of Eastwood's actions in jail and conversations between Eastwood and a psychologist made on a jail phone.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Jensen said during Monday's court hearing that because Eastwood is making his mental health an issue in the case, Eastwood's private medical records are no longer private.

Related listings

  • Phoenix man pleads guilty in fatal hit-and-run

    Phoenix man pleads guilty in fatal hit-and-run

    Criminal Law 07/07/2010

    A Phoenix man accused of trying to use the government's Cash for Clunkers program to ditch his BMW after a fatal hit-and-run crash last year has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.Maricopa County prosecutors say 24-year-old Timothy M. Kissida was driving...

  • Teen convicted of murder seeks help from hit man

    Teen convicted of murder seeks help from hit man

    Criminal Law 07/05/2010

    Davontae Sanford was just 14 when he told police he killed four people in a drug den, drawing their bodies like stick figures to show where the victims died — on the floor, a couch, a chair.Sanford was sentenced to at least 38 years in prison for the...

  • Ex-UFC fighter War Machine gets year in jail

    Ex-UFC fighter War Machine gets year in jail

    Criminal Law 07/02/2010

    Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor War Machine has been sentenced to a year in jail for violating probation after he assaulted people at two San Diego bars.War Machine pleaded guilty Thursday to two felony counts of assault and to violating pr...

Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

Business News

New York & New Jersey Family Law Matters We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights. >> read