ASPEN – A Colorado real estate agent was sentenced to 12 years in state prison for holding three men hostage at gunpoint and repeatedly threatening to kill them.
Brolin McConnell was sentenced Monday for using two handguns to hold three young men on the Independence Pass mountain trail near Aspen in July 2015, The Aspen Times reported Monday.
McConnell, 34, pleaded guilty in December to criminal attempt to commit first-degree kidnapping and felony menacing and faced between eight and 20 years imprisonment.
McConnell initially pleaded not guilty to 18 felonies, including attempted first-degree murder, before changing his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.
The change delayed the case another 14 months while psychiatrists at the state hospital in Pueblo examined him and eventually found him to be sane.
Prosecutor Don Nottingham urged a judge to impose the maximum 20-year sentence.
Harvey Steinberg, McConnell’s lawyer, told the judge his client had no prior criminal history and suffered from mental health issues.
“This case is driven by mental illness that clearly Mr. McConnell was suffering from at the time,” Steinberg said. “He simply lost it that day.”
