Teen gets 25 years in fatal beating

A teen-ager was sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday for his role in several attacks on Denver's homeless, including the slaying last fall of a man sleeping on a steam grate.

Thomas Holden, 19, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree assault in the beating death of Melvin Washington, 47, and an attack on street musician George Burdge, 39.

Washington was stomped to death Sept. 8 as he slept on a steam grate in Skyline Park. Two weeks later, Burdge was attacked on the Cherry Creek bike path and left for dead.

"What happened that night will live with me for the rest of my life because I didn't do anything to stop it from happening or at least from him dying," Holden wrote in a nine-page letter to the judge. "There is no way that I could ever forgive myself."

Holden gave a crucifix to his parents before the hearing began.

Defense attorney Frank Moya compared Holden and the other street kids to the boys in William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies, who are stranded on an island without adult supervision and moral authority after a plane crash.

"The worst traits of the strongest personality in the group tend to dominate the group and that's what happened here," Moya said. "Like the kids on that island, these kids descended into anarchy and violence."

The leader of the street kids who attacked several homeless people last year was Nathan Harrison, 20, who has yet to be tried, Moya and Holden said.

Holden was a follower who had "a terrible need to belong," Moya said.

Moya asked for a sentence near the 16-year minimum, but prosecutor Phil Brimmer sought the maximum 30-year sentence.

Brimmer said Washington's death should have been "a very sobering experience" for Holden, but he went out with his street friends and participated in other attacks on homeless men several weeks later.

Denver District Judge Herbert Stern said he sentenced Holden to 25 years instead of 30 because of his letter and his statements during the sentencing hearing and his cooperation with the prosecution of co-defendants Harrison and Christopher Ball, 16.

Stern also ordered Holden to pay $3,620 in restitution for Washington's burial costs.

Holden will spend more years behind bars than will Ball, who was convicted of manslaughter in Washington's death after a trial in March. Ball faces a maximum sentence of 12 years.

Ball also has been charged with intimidating a witness, accused of sending letters to Holden threatening to harm him or his family if he "snitched."

Holden testified at Ball's trial that Harrison and Washington argued about spare change at a 7-Eleven earlier that night. They attacked Washington after Ball later saw him sleeping in Skyline Park near 18th and Arapahoe streets.

Ball and Harrison stomped and kicked Washington, Holden testified, while he served as a lookout. Even so, Holden admitted he may have knocked out one of Washington's teeth when he stepped on his head.

Washington was one of seven homeless men found dead last fall in a series of attacks that terrorized street people in downtown Denver.

The other homicides remain under investigation, and no charges have been filed, Capt. Tim Leary said.

Police said some attacks were prompted by turf battles between older transients and homeless youths who hang out on the 16th Street Mall, panhandle and occasionally cause trouble.

Contact Sue Lindsay at (303) 892-5181 or lindsays@RockyMountainNews.com.

May 2, 2000