A defendant has been sentenced to life in prison for a shooting death at a Lakewood motel on West Colfax Avenue.
Julian Joel Rivera, 36, was sentenced Friday in Jefferson County District Court for the murder of 29-year-old Geronimo Alvarado, according to a DA’s office news release. Rivera was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder on March 14 after a five-day trial.
“We thank the Lakewood Police Department for their investigation and the Jefferson County jury for ensuring justice was served in this case,” said Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Rhoads, in the release. “Mr. Rivera will spend the rest of his life in prison, and we hope his sentence brings some sense of closure to Mr. Alvarado’s family.”
About 2:45 a.m. on Jan. 26, 2021, Lakewood police responded to the Blue Sky Motel, now defunct, on a shooting. The victim, Alvarado, was shot multiple times and died at the scene. Surveillance video showed a man, Rivera, get out of a white GMC SUV, knock on the victim’s hotel room door, and spend only a few seconds in the room before Alvarado’s shooting, the release said.
Rivera is a defendant in a Denver murder case, a shooting, and a Commerce City attempted murder case, also a shooting. Both those shootings happened on the same day as Alvarado’s shooting, according to prosecutors. Rivera has pleaded not guilty in both ongoing cases.
His next court appearance in Denver is scheduled Thursday; and in Commerce City on May 31.
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