New Conviction: Lamberth Gets 96 Years In Prison

By Jenn DeHaanj.dehaan@krdo.comandBaaron Pittengerb.pittenger@krdo.com

COLORADO SPRINGS – The man convicted of killing Colorado Springs PoliceDetective Jared Jensenhas been found to be a habitual offender and has been sentenced to 96 years in prison. The sentence came late Mondayafternoon in an El Paso CountyCourtroom. Members of Detective Jensen’s family emotionally told thejudge how the murder of Jensen affected them and their lives.

The 96-year sentence was made possible because of a ruling earlier in the afternoon that Lamberth was a habitual offender. That came after a day of wrangling by prosecutors and defense attorneys. Lamberth’s defense team argued that problems with Department of Corrections paperwork and other evidence hampered the burden of proof needed in Monday’s hearing. The judge rejected a number of objections by defense lawyers before determining that three separate felony convictions of attempted robbery, theft and first degree criminal trespassing in the mid-1990’s was enough to tack on more time to Lamberth’s sentence.

The ruling allowed the sentence for Lamberth to be doubled.Without the “habitual offender” designation the maximum sentence faced by Lamberth would have been 48 years.The death penalty is not an option. It was not sought by prosecutors at the request of the Jensen family.

Lamberth shot Jensen twice in February 2006 as the detective tried to arrest the attempted murder suspect who was on the run for allegedly stabbing his sister. Lamberth will stand trial in that caseas soon as June 9th. A judge previosuly ruled that trial will be moved out of Colorado Springs because of excessive pre-trial publicity.