{"id":24537,"date":"2024-12-06T16:34:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T23:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-killers-petition-to-overturn-convictions-denied\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:55:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:55:18","slug":"durango-killers-petition-to-overturn-convictions-denied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-killers-petition-to-overturn-convictions-denied\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango killer\u2019s petition to overturn convictions denied"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Raymond
Raymond Cain was convicted in 1995 of the murder and attempted murder of two young women in Durango. His 1994 Durango High School yearbook photo, left, and the latest photo available from the Colorado Department of Corrections. Cain\u2019s sentence of life without parole was reconsidered after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling retroactively banned such sentences for crimes committed by juveniles. Cain, who was 17 at the time, was resentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 40 years. His parole will be up for review in 2041.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A judge in Mesa County District Court denied Wednesday a request to overturn the convictions of a Durango man who has served nearly 30 years of a life sentence for the 1995 murder of a teenager.<\/p>\n

Raymond Cain was convicted of felony murder in the first degree; conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree; attempted murder in the first degree; and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery. Cain was 17 when he and two other juveniles shot and robbed two young women near Bodo Park.<\/p>\n

Sadie Frost, 18, died; Shawnda Baker, who was 19, survived the shooting.<\/p>\n

Cain filed a sixth appeal of his convictions a year ago. He offered an argument similar to those made by his two codefendants, Gabriel Rivera and Forest Porter, which resulted in new plea deals for the men in 1998 and 2000 respectively.<\/p>\n

Both men pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and have since been released from prison.<\/p>\n

Cain\u2019s most recent failed argument, along with Rivera\u2019s and Porter\u2019s previously successful one, all hinged on whether the jury was properly instructed on the definition of the predicate felony offense \u2013 in this case attempted robbery \u2013 that turns a murder charge into felony murder.<\/p>\n

The 23-year gap between Porter\u2019s successful appeal and Cain\u2019s attempt at freedom did not mean Cain was too late, Cain\u2019s attorneys argued, but that prior counsel rendered ineffective assistance.<\/p>\n

District Attorney Sean Murray, in the 6th Judicial District, argued that the instructions were not erroneous, and that prior appeals by other attorneys could have argued that point.<\/p>\n

Judge Brian Flynn agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201c(A)s Defendant knew of the purported instructional error when his codefendants appealed on those grounds, there has been an unreasonable delay in asserting an available remedy,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

As a matter of fairness, Flynn found that the lengthy delay in appeal was not reasonable and the ineffective counsel argument unconvincing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe District Attorney\u2019s Office hopes that this ruling brings some small measure of closure to the victims and the victims\u2019 families,\u201d Murray said in an email. \u201cIn this case from so many years ago, society and the victims have an enhanced interest in finality.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2016 Cain\u2019s sentence was reduced from life without parole to life with the possibility of parole after 40 years in accordance with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling which prohibited lifetime sentences without parole for crimes committed by juveniles.<\/p>\n

He is currently being held at the Fremont Correctional Center near Ca\u00f1on City and will be eligible for parole in 2041.<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raymond Cain has served 30 years for the 1995 murder of Sadie Frost<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1078,133,168,2703,28,131],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-6th-judicial-district","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-criminal","tag-headlines","tag-homicide"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78571,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24537\/revisions\/78571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24537"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}