Man Pleads Guilty to Murder at Trial (Giles)

NEWS RELEASE –

July 25, 2018

Contact: Ken Lane, 720-913-9025

MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDER AS TRIAL BEGINS

A man accused of killing another man and setting his remains and the site of the killing on fire to cover-up the killing pleaded guilty to murder yesterday on the first day of his scheduled trial.

Delshon Giles (dob: 04-05-1994) was being tried for first degree murder (F1), first degree arson (F3), and second degree arson (F4).  At the beginning of the scheduled trial’s first day, his mother, a prosecution witness, refused to testify and was held in contempt of court and ordered sent to jail (a second key witness, his girlfriend, was also in custody for failing to appear for an earlier court date).  Subsequent to the witness being found in direct contempt of court, the defendant pleaded guilty to second degree murder (F2) with a stipulated 30-year prison sentence.

Giles murdered 39-year-old Walter Bracken following an altercation on July 23, 2016, and then left his burning body on the side of the road at Elgin Place and Andrews Drive early the next morning. A few days later Giles set fire to a home in the 5100 block of Victor Way where the murder occurred.  Giles was identified as a suspect by Denver police detectives within a few days of the murder, but he fled the state.  He was arrested in Los Angeles, California in September 2016 and extradited back to Denver.

The sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 2.

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