Joshua Carrier, former CSPD cop who molested 18 children, seeks reduced sentence
A former Colorado Springs police officer convicted of molesting 18 middle-school boys asked a judge Wednesday to reduce his 70-year-to-life sentence in prison — leading the mother of one victim to lash out at his “audacity.”
Joshua Carrier, who was convicted in 2012 of fondling students while serving as a volunteer wrestling coach at Horace Mann Middle School, publicly acknowledged for the first time “the hurt” he inflicted on his victims, their families and the community.
“I do believe that the victims in this case have the right to be mad at me for the hurt that I’ve caused them, and for that I am truly sorry,” he told 4th Judicial District Judge David A. Gilbert in a virtual appearance.
Carrier, 39, is serving his sentence in an out-of-state prison under a Colorado Department of Corrections program for high-profile offenders.
His plea for a reduced sentence is the latest chapter in a case that shocked the region and led to nearly $11 million in civil payouts to victims by Colorado Springs School District 11 and the city of Colorado Springs.
The judge made no decision Wednesday, saying he would issue a written ruling at a later date.
The Colorado Court of Appeals threw out Carrier’s appeal in June 2018, and the state Supreme Court turned down his request for review in September 2019, leaving him a narrowing window to reverse a punishment that could keep him behind bars for life — what relatives of his victims call a fitting consequence for his crimes.
Parents who attended the hearing in person recounted how he leveraged his authority as a police officer to get away with the assaults, using goodwill and gifts to further earn victims’ trust.
Student wrestlers were groped, stroked and in some cases videotaped in the nude under the pretext Carrier was checking them for ringworm and other communicable diseases before competition, according to prior testimony.
One woman recalled how Carrier bought her son track shoes — one of numerous acts of goodwill that also included spending $800 of his own money to furnish the team with new wrestling mats. She, like many others, struggled with guilt for not recognizing his ulterior motive, she said.
“I don’t care if he doesn’t want to die behind bars,” she said in a letter read by prosecutor Jennifer Viehman. “I don’t want to live with the fact that I let my son down for the rest of my life.”
She added: “I am blown away that Carrier even has the audacity to ask for an early release.”
Another boy’s grandmother spoke of the pain of enduring two trials, after the first ended with a deadlocked jury.
“I will never, ever be able to forget the gut-wrenching sobs as the evidence was presented,” she said, vowing to oppose any effort to change his penalty “until the day I die.”
In the wake of Carrier’s conviction, her daughter-in-law relapsed and is serving time in prison because of a drug addiction, she said. She rarely sees her other grandchildren because they “scattered in all directions.”
“This was a family that every Sunday gathered for dinner,” she said. “My home is very lonely now without all these people now that I love. We’re never going to be able to regain that.”
Another boy’s father said his son recently completed a yearlong therapy program to “be able to sleep at night and function in the world.”
“I heard something about second chances,” he said. “Our kids don’t get that. They’re suffering still and will forever. As far as I’m concerned, Carrier’s where he should be and where he should die.”
Only one victim addressed Carrier’s request, saying in a written statement read by a prosecutor that he hasn’t recovered.
“To whom it may concern,” he wrote, “I am mentally screwed in the head because of the pathological liar that Carrier was and always will be.”
Carrier’s request was amplified by a dozen people who spoke on his behalf, including his parents, his brother and sister, and his 97-year-old grandmother.
“I asked God to let me live so long that I can see Joshua come free,” his grandmother, Christel Luy, said.
They said he had become remorseful while serving his prison sentence, and highlighted his efforts to better himself and his fellow inmates, including by leading prayer groups, working in a prison print shop and organizing a soccer tournament for fellow inmates.
Public defender Adam Steigerwald, appointed to represent Carrier in the sentence-reduction request, asked only that the judge consider revising the sentence “to allow him to work toward parole some day.”
Prosecutors pointed out that the judge already showed restraint in sentencing, given that Carrier faced up to nearly 150 years. They pointed out that Carrier earns “good time,” which could significantly shorten his sentence, and were dismissive of claims that he had changed, or that good deeds could make up for his crimes.
Carrier always purported to be a man of faith, and he was always a “joiner,” prosecutor Amy Fitch said in recounting the ways in which he “groomed” people around him to get away with his crimes. His history of manipulation made his claims of remorse “incredible,” she said.
“Let’s not forget that that can be another grooming behavior — let’s groom the judge, and the people and the court system.”
Gilbert, who could have thrown out the sentence-reduction motion without a hearing, said he felt obligated to consider whether he had struck the right “balance” between rehabilitation and punishment with what he called a “devastating” sentence.
Carrier, he suggested, is now at the center of an “age-old” debate about the purpose of the criminal justice system, made all the more fraught over the “heinous” crimes Carrier committed.
But he told people assembled in court that he hadn’t made a decision and would carefully weigh competing interests in the case, including the sentiments of the victims.
“I know in my heart that is a huge burden for families and the individuals involved, and the echoes of that continue,” he said.
Joshua Carrier (Courtesy CSPD)
Joshua Carrier’s parents, Renate and Delos Carrier, leave the courthouse Tuesday, April 17, 2012 after hearing the verdicts in their son’s trial. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
District Attorney Dan May talks to reporters after leaving the courthouse Tuesday, April 17, 2012 following the verdicts in the Joshua Carrier trial. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE
Joshua Carrier’s attorneys Christopher Decker, left, and Josh Tolini, discuss Tuesday’s verdicts outside the courthouse Tuesday, April 17, 2012. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette Photo by