Kimberlee Singler’s attorney had argued that sending her back to the U.S. would violate European human rights law, in part, because she faces a sentence of life in prison without parole in Colorado if convicted of first-degree murder. Such a sentence would be inhuman because it offers no prospect for release even if she is rehabilitated.

Singler, 36, is accused of two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting and stabbings of her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, and one count of attempted murder for slashing her 11-year-old daughter with a knife. She also faces three counts of child abuse and one count of assault.

Defense lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said that despite an option for a Colorado governor to commute her sentence at some point, it was “political suicide” to do so and experts found it hadn’t been done.

But just as Fitzgerald was winding up his argument on the final day of the three-day hearing in Westminster Magistrates’ Court, prosecutor Joel Smith rose to say he had evidence that former Gov. John Hickenlooper commuted first-degree murder sentences of six men in 2018.

Judge John Zani adjourned the hearing “in light of potentially important information” until Dec. 2 to allow lawyers to confirm a news report about the commutations and provide further arguments.

Singler, who had superficial knife wounds when she was found in her Colorado Springs apartment with her children Dec. 19, was initially considered a victim in what was reported as a burglary, police said. She tried to pin the attack on her ex-husband, who she was in a custody battle with.

But her husband had a solid alibi, prosecutors said. He had been driving a truck at the time that had GPS tracking.

The daughter who survived her attack initially told police that a man who entered their home from the patio had attacked them.

But after recovering from her wounds and being transferred to a foster home, she told a caretaker her mother was the culprit.

The girl said her mom gave the children milk with a powdery substance to drink and told them to close their eyes as she guided them into her sibling’s bedroom, Smith said.

Singler cut her neck and, as the girl begged her to stop, she slashed her again. The girl said her mother had a gun.

“The defendant told her that god was telling her to do it, and that the children’s father would take them away,” Smith said.

Police found Aden Wentz, 7, and Elianna “Ellie” Wentz, 9, dead when in the apartment. Smith said the two had been shot and stabbed.

A gun, knife and empty bottles of sleeping pills were found in the house.

Singler denies attacking her children, said Fitzgerald, who represented Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in his long extradition fight to face espionage charges in the U.S.

Singler is concerned her daughter’s statement against her was coerced and that the crimes weren’t fully investigated, Fitzgerald said.

After her daughter changed her story, police sought to arrest Singler on Dec. 26 but she had fled. She was arrested in London’s posh Chelsea neighborhood four days later.

Singler, who is in custody, was in the dock wearing a turquoise jacket and white top. She spoke publicly only to acknowledge that she understood why the hearing was being continued.

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On Tuesday, 31-year-old Andre Jones was convicted of attempted second-degree murder, multiple counts of first-degree assault, aggravated motor vehicle theft and resisting arrest, according to court records.

In April 2022, a Wheat Ridge police officer was responding to reports of a stolen U-Haul rental truck that had crashed into a fence when he was attacked by Jones.

Jones stabbed the officer multiple times in the neck, chest and back.

After a six-day trial, the jury deliberated for just under four hours before reaching their verdicts, a spokesperson for the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Tuesday.

Jones will next appear in court for a sentencing hearing on Oct. 10, 2024.

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Terrell Ronin Warrior was arrested after Westminster police responded to the hotel at 12055 Melody Drive the morning of June 29 and found one man with a stab wound to the chest. The man, later identified by the Adams County Coroner’s Office as 23-year-old Angelo Nicholas Rodriguez, died at the scene.

Prosecutors did not file charges against Warrior after finding they couldn’t prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt because of a self-defense claim, 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Chris Hopper said.

The case was closed on July 5, according to court records.

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Denver police responded to shootings and stabbings in the city’s Civic Center, Union Station, Regis, East Colfax and Baker neighborhoods, Denver Police Department said in posts on X between 10:30 p.m. Saturday and early Sunday morning.

The incidents are not believed to be connected, spokesperson Katherine McCandless said Sunday afternoon.

One man was injured in a stabbing at 1300 N. Speer Blvd. in the Civic Center/Golden Triangle neighborhood, police said at 10:33 p.m. in a post on X. The man’s injuries are not life-threatening.

A second man was injured in a stabbing in the 2200 block of 19th Street near Union Station, Denver police said at 1:16 a.m. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Officers responded to a shooting near Interstate 70 and North Tennyson Street in Denver’s Regis neighborhood at 2:52 a.m. and found one man with non-life-threatening injuries, McCandless said.

A man and a woman were injured in a second shooting near East Colfax Avenue and North Xanthia Street around 3:09 a.m., McCandless said. The extent of their injuries is unknown.

Police were called to a third shooting in the 300 block of North Santa Fe Drive in the city’s Baker neighborhood around 3:44 a.m., McCandless said. A boy was injured, but the extent of his injuries was unknown.

Denver police are working to develop suspect information in all five incidents, according to department officials.

At least 20 people were killed or injured in a string of violence across metro Denver this weekend, including seven people killed and 13 injured in shootings and stabbings.

Denver police are investigating a man’s stabbing death as a homicide after he was found in the intersection of 15th Street and Glenarm Place, department officials said late Friday night.

Aurora police are investigating two overnight shootings that killed one person and injured three others, and Commerce City police responded to a string of weekend shootings that have killed five people and injured at least one since Friday night.

And two 17-year-olds and one 18-year-old were injured after a shooting at a party near the University of Colorado Boulder on Friday night, according to Boulder police.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

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The stabbing happened at the intersection of 15th Street and Glenarm Place, in Denver’s Central Business District, according to a midnight statement on social media from the Denver Police Department.

The stabbing victim — a man whom police have not identified — was taken to a hospital, where he died from his wounds, police said. The victim will be identified by the medical examiner’s office.

Just before 2 a.m., the stabbing was classified as a homicide investigation, police said. One person is in custody, and the investigation is ongoing.

Police are asking anyone with information about the stabbing, suspect or victim to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or submit an anonymous tip online.

This is a developing story and may be updated. 

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LONDON (AP) — Far-right protesters fueled by anger and false online rumors hurled bottles and stones at officers and set a police van ablaze Tuesday outside a northwest England mosque near where three girls were fatally stabbed a day earlier.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the “thuggery” and said the crowd had hijacked what had earlier been a peaceful vigil attended by hundreds in the center of Southport to mourn the dead and 10 surviving stabbing victims, seven of whom were in critical condition.

Police said the violent crowd was believed to be supporters of the English Defence League, a far-right group, and the unrest was inspired by rumors about the identity of the teenage suspect arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.

“There has been much speculation and hypothesis around the status of a 17-year-old male who is currently in police custody and some individuals are using this to bring violence and disorder to our streets,” Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss said.

Police previously said a suspect’s name circulating on social media accounts was incorrect and the boy was born in Britain, contrary to online claims that he was an asylum seeker.

The Liverpool Region Mosque Network posted a statement decrying the “heinous” stabbing as an attack against society that was unconnected to Islam.

“A minority of people are attempting to portray that this inhumane act is somehow related to the Muslim community,” the group said on the X social media platform. “Frankly it is not, and we must not let those who seek to divide us and spread hatred use this as an opportunity.”

Officers outside the Southport Mosque in riot gear were pelted with objects by members of the crowd, some of whom wore masks, amid chants of “No surrender!” and “English till I die!” Firecrackers exploded, sirens wailed and a helicopter hovering overhead added to the chaos.

Some officers were bleeding after being struck by objects and police said one had a broken nose.

A day earlier, a short distance from the turmoil, the girls had taken part in a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga workshop on the first week of summer vacation when a teen armed with a knife entered the studio and began a vicious attack, police said.

“It’s difficult to comprehend or put into words the horror of what happened,” Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said while briefing members of Parliament. “What should have been a joyful start to the summer turned into an unspeakable tragedy.”

Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, died from their injuries, police said.

“Keep smiling and dancing like you love to do our princess,” Aguiar’s parents said in a statement released by police. “Like we said before to you, you’re always our princess and no one would change that.”

King’s family said no words could describe their devastation at the loss “of our little girl Bebe.”

Eight children and two adults remained hospitalized after the attack in Southport. Both adults and five of the children were in critical condition.

An emotional crowd that gathered in Southport outside The Atkinson theater and museum in the early evening held a minute of silence for the victims.

June Burns, the mayor of the Sefton region that contains Southport, called for calm and respect and urged people to be good to one another. She said she was overcome with emotion when she visited the scene of the tragedy earlier.

“It’s unbelievable that we find ourselves laying flowers for little girls who just wanted to dance,” she said.

Swift said earlier on Instagram that she was “completely in shock” and still taking in “the horror” of the event.

“These were just little kids at a dance class,” she wrote. “I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.”

People left flowers and stuffed animals in tribute at a police cordon on the street lined with brick houses in the seaside resort near Liverpool where the beach and pier attract vacationers. They also posted online messages of support for teacher Leanne Lucas, the organizer of the event, who was one of those attacked.

The 17-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder shortly after the attacks just before noon. Police said he was born in Cardiff, Wales, and had lived for years in a village about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from Southport. He has not yet been charged.

The rampage is the latest shocking attack in a country where a recent rise in knife crime has stoked anxieties and led to calls for the government to do more to clamp down on bladed weapons, which are by far the most commonly used instruments in U.K. homicides.

The prime minister was jeered by some as he visited the crime scene and lay a wreath of pink and white flowers with a handwritten note that said: “Our hearts are broken, there are no words for such profound loss. The nation’s thoughts are with you.”

“How many more children?” one person yelled as Starmer was getting in his car. “Our kids are dead and you’re leaving already?”

Starmer told reporters earlier that he is determined to get a grip on high levels of knife crime but said it was not a day for politics.

Witnesses described hearing screams and seeing children covered in blood in the mayhem outside the Hart Space, a community center that hosts everything from pregnancy workshops to women’s boot camps.

Joel Verite, a window cleaner riding in a van on his lunch break, said his colleague slammed on the brakes and reversed to where a woman was hanging on the side of a car covered in blood.

“She just screamed at me: ‘He’s killing kids over there. He’s killing kids over there,’” Verite told Sky News.

The woman, who was on the phone with police, directed him to where the violence was unfolding and then collapsed. Verite said he ran in the direction she had pointed.

A woman honking the horn of her car caught his attention and he found her with five or six bloody children inside. The woman said she was trying to get the kids to safety.

“It was like a scene you’d see on a disaster film,” he said. “I can’t explain to you how horrific it is what I saw.”

He ran to the dance studio, where he was startled to lock eyes with a man in a hooded tracksuit holding a knife at the top of the stairs.

“All I saw was a knife and I thought: ‘There are more people in there,’ and I just wanted to hurt him so bad,” Verite said. “But I was scared for myself and I wanted to help people. So I came outside and I was screaming because I knew where he was.”

Britain’s worst attack on children occurred in 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton shot 16 kindergartners and their teacher dead in a school gymnasium in Dunblane, Scotland. The U.K. subsequently banned the private ownership of almost all handguns.

Mass shootings and killings with firearms are exceptionally rare in Britain, where knives were used in about 40% of homicides in the year to March 2023.

Mass stabbings are also very rare, according to Iain Overton, executive director of Action on Armed Violence.

“Most knife attacks are one-on-one and personal — either domestic violence or gang related — so this tragedy is very unusual and, accordingly, garners lots of media interest,” Overton said. “This offers no comfort to the grieving families, of course.”

___

Associated Press journalist Danica Kirka contributed to this report.

Denver police investigators were on the scene of a stabbing in the 700 block of Kalamath Street around 11:20 p.m. Saturday, according to a post from the department on X. One victim was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries. There is no suspect information at this time, the department said.

Another stabbing occurred near East Colfax Avenue and Verbena Street around 2:30 a.m., according to a post from the department on X. A victim was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries and officers are developing suspect information, according to the post.

A few hours later, officers were on the scene of a stabbing near East Colfax Avenue and Broadway Street, according to a 7:31 a.m. post from the department on X. One person was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and another is in custody, the department said.

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Westminster officers responded to reports of a stabbing in the 12000 block of Melody Drive about 9:10 a.m. Saturday, according to a news release from the police department.

The area is near Willowbrook Park and the Wesley Chapel Cemetery in northern Westminster.

When officers arrived, they found an adult man with a stab wound to the chest, the release stated. He died at the scene.

Police are searching for a suspect who left the area, according to the news release.

The unidentified suspect is described as a 6-foot 2, 180-pound Latino man with brown hair and brown eyes, police said. He was last seen wearing a brown or dark red hoodie and black pants. He may be armed with a knife.

Anyone with information about the stabbing or suspect should call 911 or the Westminster Police Department at (303) 658-4360, police said.

Update 5:45 p.m. July 1, 2024: Because of incorrect information from a source, this story has been updated to clarify that the man died at the scene of the stabbing.

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Denver police officers were investigating a stabbing in the 1100 block of North Santa Fe Drive around 11 p.m. on Saturday, according to a post from the department on X.

A man was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries. No suspect information is available at this time, according to the department.

Another stabbing occurred in the 3000 block of West Alameda Avenue around 3 a.m. Sunday, according to a Denver Police Department X post.

A man was stabbed in the left arm and taken to a local hospital. His injury appears to be non-life-threatening, police said. There is no suspect information at this time, according to the department.

Around 3 a.m. Sunday, another man with a gunshot wound in his left arm arrived at a local hospital, according to the Denver Police Department.

The shooting occurred in the 800 block of South Oneida Street, according to a 5:24 a.m. post by the department on X. The extent of the man’s injuries is unknown and there are currently no suspects, police said.

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Norenty Ropon, 23, pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge Tuesday, according to court records. He was arrested July 13 in connection with the stabbing of 33-year-old Haruna Bizabishaka Bonanee.

Ropon will be sentenced Aug. 30. He was initially charged with second-degree murder, felony menacing and assault with a deadly weapon.

On July 13, Ropon and Bonanee were arguing outside of an apartment complex in the 1600 block of Alton Street, the Aurora Police Department said in a press release last year. Ropon then pulled a knife and stabbed Bonanee in the neck, police said. Bonanee died after he was taken to the hospital.

Police said they arrested Ropon, who was still armed with a knife, a short distance from the scene.

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