Denver, CO
14-year-old charged with Denver murder was repeatedly released from custody in prior case, wanted for arrest at time of shooting
The 14-year-old boy charged with killing a Denver bar bouncer last month was repeatedly released from custody in a preceding juvenile case over the objection of prosecutors who thought he posed a danger to the community, according to court records obtained by The Denver Post.
The teenager was also wanted on a warrant at the time of the killing that would have kept him temporarily jailed without bond had he been arrested, records show.
The teen, whom The Post is not naming because he is a juvenile, is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of 49-year-old William “Todd” Kidd on July 10 outside the Federales Denver bar at 29th and Larimer streets in Denver’s River North Arts District.
Kidd, who worked at the bar, was intervening in a disturbance when he was shot, police have said. He died two days later on July 12.
The teenager’s journey through Colorado’s juvenile courts highlights how the system is designed to keep children out of custody through a focus on pretrial release and a statutory cap on the number of kids who can be incarcerated in the state — an approach supporters hail as the best way to help vulnerable youths, but critics decry as soft on crime.
“The vast majority of kids going through the system are not safety risks to anybody,” said Emma Mclean-Riggs, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado. “Sometimes these cases are used as leverage to produce more incarceration of children when there is not sufficient context.”
George Brauchler, a former district attorney and current Republican candidate for district attorney in the 23rd Judicial District, said while he understands the juvenile justice system’s aim to keep kids out of detention, the approach can be detrimental to both youths and broader community safety.
“We have gone so far off the deep end of the criminal justice reform spectrum that we are rolling the dice for a lot of communities because it makes us feel good about how we are treating kids,” he said.
Charged with stealing cars
The 14-year-old boy was arrested on charges of stealing cars in Douglas County in December and again in Adams County in January, court records show.
In Douglas County, he was charged in juvenile court with motor vehicle theft, conspiracy to commit motor vehicle theft, criminal mischief and false reporting, said Eric Ross, a spokesman for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. He declined to comment further.
In Adams County, the 14-year-old was charged in juvenile court with motor vehicle theft, resisting arrest, vehicular eluding and obstructing a police officer. Chris Hopper, spokesman for the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, declined to comment on the case.
In the Adams County case, the boy on multiple occasions violated the conditions of his personal recognizance bond, records obtained by The Post show. He sometimes missed required meetings, violated his GPS monitoring and struggled to keep his GPS unit charged.
Personal recognizance bonds allow defendants to be released from custody on the promise they will return to court, rather than requiring defendants to pay money as collateral before their release. In 2021, state lawmakers required that all bonds set in juvenile cases be personal recognizance bonds.
“There was kind of a universal understanding that holding kids because their families are poor doesn’t make any sense,” Mclean-Riggs said of the 2021 change.
In late April, Adams County prosecutors filed a motion to revoke the boy’s bond after a fifth bond violation report was filed in the case, the records show.
The teen was arrested, and during a court hearing on May 1, his attorneys asked that he be released on bond into his mother’s custody. Prosecutors objected, citing “community safety concerns” because of his GPS violations, the records show.
Magistrate Michal Lord-Blegen granted a personal recognizance bond with several conditions, including that the teenager remain on GPS monitoring, attend school and therapy, and stay away from weapons, drugs and alcohol.
Just over two weeks later, another bond violation report — the seventh overall — was filed in the case, records show. Prosecutors once again sought to revoke the boy’s bond, and the boy was arrested again.
On May 17, Lord-Blegen again allowed the teenager to be released from custody, again over the objection of prosecutors who sought for the boy to be held with no bond.
On May 28, the 14-year-old ran away from home on his way to court, according to the records. Two days later, Lord-Blegen issued a warrant for his arrest and ordered the boy be detained on a no-bond hold when he was taken into custody.
But the teenager was not arrested again until July 16 — days after Denver police allege he shot and killed Kidd. Officers found the boy in Casper, Wyoming, police have said.
The records obtained by the Post do not specifically indicate why the magistrate issued the personal recognizance bonds, but do note that the teenager had been attending therapy, was referred to a mentor and, until the homicide, was not arrested on new charges, only on bond violations. Lord-Blegen could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The 14-year-old boy appeared in juvenile court Tuesday for a hearing in the Denver homicide case, but a judge closed the courtroom to the public after learning that members of the media were in attendance.
A focus on rehabilitation
Juvenile court operates differently than adult court and is designed to focus on rehabilitation and the child’s best interests, rather than punitive measures, attorneys told The Post. All of the attorneys who spoke with The Post were not familiar with the teenager’s case and spoke generally about juvenile justice.
Judges can hold a child in detention without a bond if they find the child poses a substantial risk of harm to others and community-based alternatives to incarceration will not work, state law says.
But the presumption in juvenile court is that the young defendants should be released from custody whenever possible, because childhood incarceration has been proven so harmful to youths, Mclean-Riggs said.
In cases involving property crime — like motor vehicle theft — and not violent crime, youths typically will be released on bond while their cases are pending, said Tally Zuckerman, a Denver criminal defense attorney.
“I would honestly be shocked if a kid was held on a no-bond hold for a motor vehicle theft,” she said.
Children are also given extra leeway for bond violations, she added, particularly for violations like missing school or returning a positive drug test that don’t involve violence or new crimes.
Technical violations of bond often are not a good indicator of a person’s level of threat to a community, said Tristan Gorman, policy director for the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar.
“That happens a lot with people who are poor, people who don’t have transportation, people with mental health issues or any number of things,” she said. “But it also happens a lot with teenagers who don’t have a fully developed frontal lobe. So… if it is mostly about GPS and check-ins, that is not really indicative of, is this kid safe in the community?”
Brauchler said the leeway given to youths in juvenile court has in some cases swung too far toward rehabilitation and away from accountability.
“I want us to be rehabilitation-focused where appropriate, and that applies to 98, 99% of juvenile cases,” he said. “But the rest of them, we have to have the tools in the toolbox to treat them more seriously.”
Juvenile bed cap
Colorado lawmakers have passed a series of laws over the last two decades aimed at limiting the number of juveniles held in the state’s juvenile detention centers, citing the long-term harm of childhood incarceration.
Legislators first set a cap on the number of youths who could be detained statewide in 2003, limiting the number of available beds for juvenile detention to 479. That cap has been steadily lowered — most recently in 2021 to 215 beds. Lawmakers also allowed for an additional 22 temporary emergency beds that become available if the state hits its juvenile detention limit.
The bed cap has drawn ire in recent years as the state has neared the limit, with some prosecutors, law enforcement officers and politicians saying the ceiling pushes children who should be detained back into the community.
“From a pure logical standpoint, it makes no sense,” Brauchler said. “It takes a fixed number — not a percentage of juveniles in the state, not a percentage of juveniles in the system, not a percentage of crime, not a percentage of anything — it’s a fixed number of beds statewide, regardless of the amount of criminal activity that takes place by juveniles or the risk they pose to the community.”
Some children would be better off in detention than in their home environment, where they might face the same pressures that led to the first crime and be more likely to re-offend, said Aurora City Councilman Dustin Zvonek, who last year championed a city resolution asking the state to abolish the juvenile detention bed cap.
“They’re still little kids,” he said. “And to be running around neighborhoods with a weapon, running from SWAT officers, it’s hard to wrap your mind around — but it is a reality we face, and so we have to have a system in place that protects the Aurora community.”
Mclean-Riggs said children who end up in the juvenile justice system have typically first been failed by myriad other systems — from education to welfare to health care — and that a holistic approach is needed, rather than a reactionary turn to incarceration.
“The place to intervene effectively for these children is years before they touch the criminal legal system,” she said “…The view that says the answer here is pretrial detention is myopic and is not accounting for all of the other systems that were supposed to hold and intervene for this child and his family.”
It’s not clear whether the bed cap played a role in the 14-year-old’s releases in Adams County.
On the morning of May 1, when he was released on bond after it was revoked, the state had 213 juveniles in detention, said Heidi Bauer, spokeswoman for the Division of Youth Services, just under the 215 limit.
On May 17, the second time he was released after a revocation, 204 juveniles were in detention at the start of the day.
Bauer noted the number of filled beds frequently fluctuates. Over the last six months, the state’s average daily juvenile detention population has hovered between 185 and 206 youths.
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Originally Published:
Denver, Colo. (03/27/2026) – In front of another expected record-breaking crowd, the Washington Spirit is set to take on Denver Summit FC in the side’s inaugural home match at Empower Field at Mile High. With over 60,000 tickets already distributed, the match is poised to break the NWSL attendance record of 40,091 set last summer when the Spirit visited Bay FC at San Francisco’s Oracle Park. Kicking off at 2 p.m. EDT, the match will broadcast nationally on CBS.
The Spirit
Washington comes into this weekend’s fixture off a difficult 1-1 home draw with Utah Royals FC earlier this week. After scoring in the 18th minute, the Spirit nearly earned its first victory of 2026 but conceded an equalizer late and had to settle for a single point on the table. Washington’s goal was scored by midfielder Rebeca Bernal, the Mexican star’s first since transferring to the NWSL last year.
Saturday afternoon’s match will mark the first-ever meeting between the Spirit, one of the NWSL’s original clubs, and 2026 expansion side Denver Summit FC. Denver will be the 17th different opponent for Washington across its regular season history: the Spirit has played against 13 active clubs (all except expansion sides Denver and Boston) as well as defunct clubs the Boston Breakers, FC Kansas City and the Western New York Flash.
The Spirit has had success against expansion sides as of late, tallying 11 wins in 15 matches against NWSL clubs in their first season of competition since the start of the 2021 campaign. In 2024, the Spirit went a perfect 5-0-0 against Bay FC and Utah Royals FC, outscoring the teams 10-3 with a playoff win to boot. In 2022, Washington earned a 1-3-0 record against Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC and, in 2021, the eventual NWSL champions went an impressive 5-1-0 against Kansas City and Racing Louisville FC.
This weekend’s matchup at Empower Field at Mile High, home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos, is set to shatter the NWSL’s single match attendance record with over 60,000 tickets already distributed. The Spirit has also been the visiting team for two of the league’s previous three record-setting attendances: 34,130 fans at Seattle’s Lumen Field when the Spirit took on the Reign and 40,091 in the stands at San Francisco’s historic Oracle Park to watch Washington play Bay FC.
Washington is in good standing in several attacking categories through three matches despite two draws and a loss. The Spirit remains first in the league in rate of possession at nearly 62% and top three in both shots and shots on target with 49 and 17, respectively. With just three goals through three matches, look for the Spirit attack to continue getting attempts on frame this weekend.
Following Saturday’s match, the Spirit will hit the road again next weekend for an away match against Bay FC in San Jose on Sunday, April 5. Washington’s next home match will be on Friday, April 24 at 8 p.m. EDT when the side hosts the defending Shield winner Kansas City Current at Audi Field. Information on tickets can be found HERE.
The Opponent
Denver Summit FC opened its inaugural season with three straight away matches, collecting a win, a loss and a draw to carry four points into its home opener this weekend. Summit FC dropped its first match to Bay FC 1-2 before drawing Orlando 1-1 and beating Gotham 2-0.
Summit FC is led in scoring by star German forward Melissa Kössler who has three goals in three matches, scoring once in each contest. With a goal tomorrow, the forward would join Alex Morgan as just the second player in league history to score in each of her first four matches with a club. Look for the Spirit defending third to place an emphasis on limiting chances to Kössler on Saturday afternoon.
Denver has only allowed one goal across its last 240 minutes of action after giving up two in the first 30 minutes of the side’s opener. The strong recent form of Summit FC’s defending third against the Spirit attacking third’s ability to generate chance after chance will be a point to watch this weekend.
Three former Spirit players are currently on the Summit FC roster as midfielders Meg Boade and Jordan Baggett and defender Camryn Biegalski signed with the side ahead of this season. Baggett spent four years with the Spirit after being drafted by the side in 2019 while Biegalski signed with Washington in 2021 and played three seasons, both winning the 2021 NWSL Championship with the team. Boade spent the first half of the 2025 season in DC as a short-term injury replacement, even scoring a goal for the Spirit.
Following tomorrow’s match, Denver will travel to Seattle to face Reign FC on Saturday, April 4.
All-Time Series History
This weekend’s match will be the first-ever meeting between the Spirit and Denver Summit FC.
About The Washington Spirit
The Washington Spirit is the premier professional women’s soccer team based in Washington, D.C. and plays at Audi Field in Buzzard Point. The Spirit was founded on November 21, 2012 and is an inaugural member of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) the fastest growing sports league in the US. The club is home to some of the best players in the world who have won championships for both club and country. For more information about the Spirit, visit WashingtonSpirit.com and follow the club on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
The Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets are tipping off their second-to-last meeting of the 2025-26 season on Friday in the Mile High, where for the Jazz in particular, they’ll be dealing with several injuries headed into the matchup that’ll make them shorthanded once again.
Here’s what to expect on the injury front for both the Jazz and Nuggets on Friday night:
Utah Jazz Injury Report
OUT – Isaiah Collier (hamstring)
OUT – Keyonte George (hamstring)
OUT – Jaren Jackson Jr. (knee)
OUT – Walker Kessler (shoulder)
OUT – Lauri Markkanen (hip)
OUT – Jusuf Nurkic (nose)
PROBABLE – Kyle Filipowski (illness)
OUT – Blake Hinson (two-way)
It’s a lot of the same for the Jazz when looking back at some of their recent injury reports, but there’s also some good news to note as well.
Second-year big man Kyle Filipowski, specifically, is trending up to play in Denver after dealing with an illness against the Washington Wizards; an issue that kept him sidelined for one game and left the Jazz’s frontcourt notably shorthanded for what would be a double-digit loss.
During his post-All-Star stretch, Filipowski has been averaging 13.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, along with 1.2 steals and 0.9 blocks through 11 games.
He’s slotted in primarily as the Jazz’s starting center since both Walker Kessler and Jusuf Nurkic have been out with season-ending injuries, and has shown some nice flashes throughout.
However, outside of getting Filipowski back in the mix, the Jazz will still be without second-year guard Isaiah Collier, who continues to deal with hamstring soreness, and will also continue to be down Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen with their extended absences.
It remains to be seen if any of the latter two will be able to return at some point this season, but now with less than 10 games to go on the calendar before the offseason officially hits, the chances of either Markkanen or George coming back keep getting slimmer and slimmer.
For the extent either remains out, expect to see a good chunk of Ace Bailey being the primary scoring option as he has through his recent slate of games, along with an expanded role for their two-way and 10-day players down the bench who have gotten more minutes in recent weeks.
Denver Nuggets Injury Report
OUT – David Roddy (two-way)
OUT – KJ Simpson (two-way)
As for the Nuggets, their injury slate remains clean. The only names out will be a pair of their two way signings in David Roddy and KJ Simpsons, while the rest of their roster is slated to be active.
It’s a major change from what the Nuggets have been used to all season when factoring in their several injuries to key players lasting multiple weeks.
Nikola Jokic, Cameron Johnson, Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon, and Peyton Watson have all missed significant time at one point or another this season, but against Utah, they’ll have all systems go as they roll into the game on a three-game win streak.
Tip-off between the Jazz and Nuggets lands at 7 p.m. MT in Ball Arena.
Little India will close its West Highland location in the coming months, owner Simeran Baidwan told BusinessDen.
It marks the end of a five-year run at the corner of 32nd Avenue and Lowell Street for the local Indian chain.
“We opened to preserve jobs because we didn’t have enough revenue,” he said of the pandemic days when restaurants were struggling.
The 3496 W. 32nd Ave. store helped keep dozens of chefs and servers in Baidwan’s “Little India family,” he said. Those workers will now have the opportunity to work at his other restaurants.
“Five years later, the question isn’t whether people love the food,” he continued. “It’s whether independent restaurants can survive the compounding pressures and expenses, especially in Denver.”
Baidwan, who opened the first and still-running Little India at Sixth and Grant alongside his parents in 1998, singled out rising minimum wage, insurance, delivery fees and credit card processing fees as factors contributing to the closure.
“I think what it is, is a Denver restaurant industry story, it’s not just our one restaurant story,” he said. “I think what’s happened, in this day and time, is that life has become really expensive. There’s no margins. The math just doesn’t work.”
Being in the Highlands was also a factor, Baidwan said. The desirable location comes with high rent as well as skyrocketing property taxes he’s been responsible for. Add in dwindling consumer spending and Baidwan said his hand was forced.
“Busy doesn’t always mean profitable,” he said. “A lot of people look through the window and assume the restaurant is good, and we have the several locations too. But it just isn’t like that anymore.”
Baidwan said there’s no plan to close his three other locations, in Cap Hill, Central Park and off Downing Street near the University of Denver. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been making tweaks.
At the original store off Sixth, he started operating 24/7 about eight months ago, something he’s thinking about for his other neighborhood restaurants. He’s also added entertainment, like jazz music and dancing, to help get more customers through the door.
Baidwan himself has also returned to the floor as a server — the first job he had at his parent’s store. But having the owner-operator model is difficult for his sprawling Little India empire since he can only be in so many places at once.
“The closure is about sustainability, to sustain what we have. It’s not surrender,” he said “It’s not that we’ve lost the passion of what we do so well. I mean, who does a vindaloo better than Little India?
“We’re really proud of what we built there, and this isn’t about failure,” he continued. “It’s about the reality that the economics of independent restaurants has changed dramatically.”
Read more from our partner, BusinessDen.
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