(January 31, 2020 – Golden, CO) Abel Candy Gallegos, DOB: 10-14-83, appeared today in Jefferson County District Court where he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 163 years for his role in the retaliation murder of 28-year-old Cymone Duran.
Gallegos was one of three men convicted by a jury on January 29, 2020. Codefendants Alonso Quintana, DOB: 3-21-91; and Rene Francisco Rosales, DOB: 4-15-83, were also each found guilty of multiple counts for their role in her death. The three men were tried together.
Early in 2018, Ms. Duran had identified Quintana in a line-up in an attempted murder investigation in Adams County. She then became the target of Gallegos, Quintana, and Rosales.
On November 5, 2018 she was lured, kidnapped, shot ten times as she begged for her life, and her dead body was set on fire.
Ms. Duran had been approached by Gallegos on social media. She met with him, Rosales and others at a house in Denver. Ms. Duran, Gallegos, and Rosales left the house together. Rosales went home soon after they left. Gallegos took Ms. Duran to a parking lot at W. Colfax and Kipling where he had previously arranged to meet with Quintana. Ms. Duran was assaulted by Quintana and Gallegos, and imprisoned in the back seat of a car. She was then driven to a dark, secluded spot, at 7th and Nile in Golden, where Gallegos and Quintana shot her ten times. They left the area. Gallegos and Rosales came back later and poured gasoline on her body and set it on fire.
Gallegos was sentenced in the aggravated range because he was on federal probation at the time of the offense. This is his sixth felony conviction. He has been revoked on parole or probation eight times.
Sentencing Judge Phillip McNulty told Gallegos that he was struck by the casualness of this crime and appalled by the disregard of human life, “You can’t live among us anymore.”
Quintana and Rosales will be sentenced at 8:00 a.m. on February 24.
BREAKDOWN OF SENTENCING ON EACH COUNT. JUDGE SENTENCED THE MAXIMUM ON EACH COUNT AND ORDERED THE COUNTS TO BE SERVED CONSECUTIVE TO ONE ANOTHER
Prison Guilty verdict
Life F1 Murder in the First Degree – With Intent/After Deliberation:
F1 Murder in the First Degree – Felony Murder
48Y F2 CSP to Commit Murder in the First Degree
32Y F3 Second Degree Kidnapping
2 counts Crime of Violence (sentence enhancers)
24Y F3 Retaliation Against a Witness or Victim
24Y F3 Tampering with a Deceased Human Body
3Y F6 Tampering with Physical Evidence
32Y DF2 Possession with Intent to MFG or Distribute a C/S
