Shawn Leinen

Shawn Leinen was a dedicated 28-year-old officer with the Denver Police Department and a man on the cusp of fatherhood. A three-year veteran of the force and a former member of the Wyoming Air National Guard, he was known for his commitment to serving his community. In February 1995, his life was full of promise; his wife, Susan, was pregnant with their first child, a son they would name Maxwell. That future was stolen in an act of violence that would reverberate through the city for decades.

On the cold night of Saturday, February 25, 1995, Officer Leinen was responding to a report of shots fired in the area of the 300 block of East Cedar Avenue. While investigating, he spotted a young man breaking into a car. Leinen began a foot pursuit, chasing the suspect into a dead-end space between two houses. There, the 16-year-old, Raymond Gone, turned and fired at the officer. The initial shots struck Leinen in the chest, but his protective vest stopped the rounds, knocking him to the ground and stunning him. Witnesses reported hearing Leinen plead, "Don't do it, man!" before Gone stood over the fallen officer and fired a final, fatal shot to his head.

The Denver Police Department launched an immediate and intensive investigation, which quickly led to the identification and arrest of Raymond Gone. The community mourned the loss of a hero, and the justice system moved swiftly. On September 1, 1995, Gone was convicted of first-degree murder. As a juvenile tried as an adult, he received the mandatory sentence at the time: life in prison without the possibility of parole.

For 25 years, that sentence stood. Officer Leinen’s son, Maxwell, was born two months after his father's murder and grew up knowing him only through stories and photographs. His uncle, Steven Laughrey, later wrote to the court about the void left by Shawn's death. "All the moments that Max’s dad should have been there, and he wasn’t," Laughrey wrote. "When I look at Max, I see his father. He looks like Shawn. He acts like Shawn. I know they would have been best friends."

A significant legal shift brought the case back into the spotlight decades later. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional. This decision eventually impacted 48 cases in Colorado, including Raymond Gone's. In December 2020, the Denver District Attorney's Office and Gone's attorney reached an agreement to resentence him, citing the Supreme Court ruling and what the DA termed "extraordinary mitigating circumstances." These included Gone's age at the time of the crime and an unstable, abusive childhood marked by his parents' addiction and neglect.

Under the agreement, Gone's original first-degree murder conviction was vacated. He pleaded guilty to an amended charge of felony murder, and Denver District Court Judge Karen Brody resentenced him to 44 years in prison. The new sentence included credit for the nearly 26 years he had already served, making him eligible for parole. The district attorney's office noted the decision was made in part to avoid a new trial that could have taken years.

The resentencing was met with strong opposition from Shawn Leinen's family and friends, who wrote letters to the court urging the judge to impose a stiffer penalty. They felt that the release of their loved one's killer would be a profound injustice. "This man is still living and breathing and Shawn is not," wrote his brother-in-law. "He should not be allowed to be a member of the outside society."

As of December 2020, the case is legally closed, with Raymond Gone serving his reduced sentence. The memory of Officer Shawn Leinen, however, continues to be honored by his family, the Denver Police Department, and a community that has not forgotten his sacrifice. His name is enshrined among the fallen heroes of the department, a permanent reminder of a promising life cut tragically short in the line of duty.