A man who fired a gun on University Hill in 2022 before being shot by police accepted a plea deal on Friday and was sentenced to two years in jail and eight years of community corrections.
Zakiyy Lucas, 24, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder – extreme indifference; disorderly conduct – discharge of a firearm; and possession of a defaced firearm.
Zakiyy Lucas (Boulder County Sheriff’s Office)
On the attempted murder charge, Lucas received an eight-year sentence to community corrections, and two 364-day jail sentences for the disorderly conduct and possession charges. All sentences will run consecutively. He also received 40 days of credit for time served towards his community corrections sentence. All other counts were dismissed.
Assistant District Attorney Ken Kupfner said at the start of the case, he couldn’t see a way Lucas would receive less than a decade in prison. Kupfner said Lucas was refusing every program offered to him in the jail and had multiple disciplinary actions due to his behavior.
However, when defense attorney Valerie Cole took on the case, she asked for extra time to provide further mitigating evidence. Kupfner agreed but said it would be unlikely it would change his mind.
But Cole traveled to Lucas’ hometown, spoke with his childhood friends, family members and created a video highlighting the struggles Lucas has endured throughout his life. District Judge Dea Lindsey said she has only seen mitigation work this expansive in death penalty and murder cases.
“I had to admit I was wrong, Ms. Cole had provided me with a mitigation packet that was persuasive,” Kupfner said. “That mitigation pack is the primary reason we’re standing here and I’m not arguing to send him to prison for a decade.”
Kupfner said it was far from the norm to give someone a community corrections and jail sentence on an attempted murder charge, but he believes sending Lucas to prison wouldn’t have made the situation better.
“He’s got a lot of work to do but he’s acknowledged it and he’s started to do that work,” Kupfner said.
He added, “I hope to see him in a couple years down the road in an incredibly successful place.”
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Throughout his sentencing Friday morning, Lucas’ loved ones shed tears, laughed and smiled at Lucas while numerous people took the podium to talk about him. NAACP representative Darren O’Connor, Lucas’ mother, and his former boxing coach Carrie Barry spoke on his behalf.
O’Connor referenced another case in which a man was sentenced to 180 days in jail with two years of probation for a shooting and said Lucas’ charges were less severe but argued Lucas was facing a longer sentence because he is a young Black man.
Lindsey also spoke to how Lucas’ identity as a Black man has impacted his life and will continue to. She emphasized that about 1% of Boulder County’s population is Black and one in three Black men go to prison in the U.S.
“I hate it. I hate it. I can’t tell you how much I hate it,” Lindsey said about the U.S. incarceration rates of Black men.
Lindsey added that Boulder County can be “very isolating” for people of color.
“Because of that you have to work harder … That doesn’t mean you can’t overcome it, it just means you have to be relentless. You have to be consistent. You have to believe in who you are, which is greatness. You are a king,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey stated that this was a self-defense case and agreed with Barry that Lucas was scared during the shooting.
During her statement, Barry recalled hearing that when Lucas was in kindergarten his principal told him he’d be nothing more than a jailbird like his father. While his principal was confronted, Barry said Lucas didn’t received the comfort and support he deserved at the time.
“I would’ve been there for him in that moment. He was destined for so much greatness in his heart,” Barry said. “When you hear that at 5 years old, those things stick with you. Hearing that, that sticks over and over again.”
Barry said when Lucas is looking for a job, she would be willing to take a pay cut so that she could hire him at her boxing gym, The Corner Boxing Club.
“I think he can be the heart of his community if they’re willing to give him the chance,” Cole said.
Lucas thanked everyone who had helped him before being handed down his sentence.
“A lot of nights I spent in my cell thinking that I wasn’t going to see my family and people I love for some time … Thank you. I would like to apologize to the community, anybody who I might have scared or just affected. I apologize but thank you,” Lucas said.
According to an arrest affidavit, police were investigating a nuisance call on University Hill on Oct. 2, 2022, when they heard a witness had called 911 about a large brawl nearby that possibly involved firearms.
A video of the fight showed one man on the ground wearing a dark shirt and khaki pants being punched and kicked by two other men. Video footage later showed one of the men yelling at Lucas. The two then began to exchange punches when Lucas went into a yellow vehicle parked nearby and returned with a rifle, the affidavit said.
A responding Boulder police officer, Eric Stephens, saw Lucas fire his weapon, which prompted Stephens to shoot Lucas.
According to body camera video, Lucas then dropped his weapon and began to run before Stephens told him to stop. While the officers were putting Lucas into custody, police believed that another fired four shots in their direction based on a witness description and where the shots came from.
One person was originally arrested in addition to Lucas, but charges were dropped after video evidence showed he was not the shooter.
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