30-Year Sentence For Body-Burning Homicide

DENVER, CO – A man accused in 2016 of killing another man after an argument, then setting his body on fire, trying to burn down his home and fleeing to Los Angeles was sentenced Friday in Denver District Court.

Delshon Giles, 24, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in July and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, the Denver County District Attorney's Office said.

Giles killed 39-year-old Walter Bracken following a fight on July 23, 2016, and then left his burning body on the side of the road at Elgin Place and Andrews Drive early the next morning, the DA's office said. A few days later Giles set fire to a home in the 5100 block of Victor Way where the murder occurred. Denver police detectives identified Giles as a suspect within a few days of the murder, but he fled the state. He was arrested in Los Angeles in September 2016 and extradited back to Denver.

During Giles's July trial, at the beginning of the scheduled trial's first day, his mother, a prosecution witness, refused to testify and was held in contempt of court and ordered sent to jail, the DA's office said. A second key witness, his girlfriend, was also in custody for failing to appear for an earlier court date.

Although he was originally charged with first-degree murder and multiple arson counts, Giles pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on the first day of his trial, with a stipulated 30-year prison sentence, the DA's office said.

Giles has been held in custody of the Denver County Jail since his arrest in 2016.

Image via Denver District Attorney's Office

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