DENVER (AP) — A man convicted of using an AK-47 to kill a woman and wound her boyfriend while they were walking their dog has been sentenced to life in prison.
A judge on Friday sentenced Michael Clowes to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the death of 21-year-old Isabella Tallas and added an additional 48 years in prison for the attempted murder of Darian Simon.
Prosecutors alleged that Close got into a “verbal altercation” with the couple over a command they were using to force their dog to defecate outside Close’s apartment near Coors Field on June 10, 2020.
Clowes yelled out the window at the couple as they urged the dog to “go potty” before retrieving the AK-47, which he borrowed from a friend who was a Denver police sergeant, according to The Denver Post. Prosecutors said he fired 24 times.
Close pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but a jury in September convicted him of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree assault.
Clowes’ public defender, Sonia Prince, said at the time that Clowes had suffered a mental breakdown and that an abusive childhood, a series of job losses, a breakup and the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to his poor mental health at the time of the shooting.
