A 29-year-old Adams County woman was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2020 shooting death of her boyfriend, according to the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Ashley Elizabeth White was arrested after police found her boyfriend, 28-year-old Cody DeLisa, shot to death in their home in the 6000 block of East 80th Avenue in the Derby neighborhood on Aug. 14, 2020.
White was initially charged with first-degree murder, but an Adams County jury convicted her on the lesser charge on Friday. She was also convicted of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and robbery, according to court records.
In a statement Tuesday, White’s attorney, Jessica Jones, said White is innocent and the case is “far from over.”
“We will continue to work to vindicate her rights through the courts,” Jones said.
According to the district attorney’s office, White and DeLisa had a “volatile and strained” relationship and she had allegedly tried to drown and burn his cat.
White was taking the bus home from a job interview in Denver on Aug. 13, 2020, when she met a man and started discussing her relationship with DeLisa and alleged that he had sexually assaulted her. The man said they must kill him, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.
The pair then walked to White’s home, where the man introduced himself to DeLisa as White’s brother from Texas. DeLisa was shot twice in the head a short time later.
White and the man spent several days together after DeLisa’s death before the man left the area, the DA’s office said.
Investigators identified a man suspected in the case in 2023 who was already in custody on suspicion of an unrelated murder in Pueblo and was found not competent to stand trial in that case, district attorney’s officials said. The Denver Post is not naming him because he has not been charged in DeLisa’s death.
Jones, White’s attorney, criticized the DA’s decision to issue a news release about the conviction as unethical.
“It is a shame the District Attorney continues to vilify Ms. White instead of prosecuting Cody DeLisa’s killer even though they know who he is,” Jones said.
White’s sentencing is set for April 4.
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