Convicted Colorado murderer sentenced again to life in prison for killing witness to original murder
A Colorado man was given his second life sentence in connection the 2020 murder of a woman who witnessed a separate murder.
Steven Young, 48, was already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 2020 murder of 41-year-old John Cyprian when he was recently given the same sentence again for killing 33-year-old Charly Lewis, a woman who witnessed that original killing, six days later.
Young was convicted of killing Lewis in August and convicted of killing Cyprian and sentenced in that case in 2021.
"I am grateful to the jury for reaching this verdict, which I hope will provide some measure of comfort to Charly Lewis's family," Adams County Assistant District Attorney Maggie Conboy said in a statement in August. "I also want to thank the prosecutors and investigators who worked long and hard on this case to get justice for Charly."
Cyprian was walking along 16th Avenue near Akron Street with Lewis on June 1, 2020, when Young -- 45 at the time -- was driving an SUV and stopped it near the two people and got out. According to the Adams County District Attorney's Office, he then charged at Cyprian with a gun.
Young shot Cyprian in the midsection and then took Lewis with him and drove away from the area.
Cyprian died after crawling into a field nearby. District Attorney Brian Mason called it a "senseless, gruesome crime."
According to an arrest affidavit, Young and Lewis were captured on surveillance video on the HALO camera walking together in the alley behind 1065 Federal Blvd. on June 7. Lewis' body was found in the early hours the next morning.
