DENVER — A second suspect arrested in connection with an intentionally set fire in 2020 that killed five family members, including two small children, pleaded guilty Friday morning.
Gavin Seymour, now 19, pleaded guilty to an added count of second-degree murder. In exchange for the plea, 60 other counts against him were dismissed. Those charges included multiple counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault, and arson.
9NEWS Legal Expert Scott Robinson said this plea agreement makes Seymour eligible for parole 10 years earlier than if he had gone to trial.
Seymour, Kevin Bui and Dillon Siebert were accused of going to the Diol home in the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood in northeast Denver and setting the home on fire in the early morning hours Aug. 5, 2020. At the time, Seymour was 16.
Eight people were inside the home when the fire was set. Killed in the fire were Djibril Diol, 29; Djibril's wife, Adja, 23; the couple's 2-year-old daughter Khadija; Djibril's sister, Hassan, 25, and Hassan's 6-month-old daughter, Hawa Beye. Three people survived the fire by jumping from a second-story window.
The suspects believed the home on Truckee Street belonged to someone who had robbed Bui.
> Video below: Survivors of fire that killed family members say plea deal given to one of the suspects is not justice
"They destroyed us. They didn’t just kill five people, they killed us too," said Amadou Beye, whose daughter and wife were killed in the fire. "People can see us [surviving family members] alive, but mentally, we can't even more forward anymore because of this. Just thinking about what you lost and know that nothing can replace it. It's suffering."
Beye said his family was hoping for stricter punishments for the defendants. He says the plea deal and likely sentence for Seymour are "not justice."
"It's unbelievable to see. Now we're talking just 16-40 years — it's unbelievable," he said. "I can't even think about that. I can't believe it. I don’t consider this justice. It's just not fair for us."
The youngest of the suspects, Siebert, pleaded guilty in December 2022 to second-degree murder and use of a weapon during a violent crime, which was a sentence enhancer.
"From the prosecution's point of view, now they have two witnesses to testify against the remaining defendant, Kevin Bui," Robinson said.
The case had been cold for months before Denver Police announced the arrest of three teens in January 2021. The break in the case came after investigators obtained a search warrant for Google to turn over information for anyone who searched the home's address before the fire.
Seymour's defense team appealed the search warrant's validity all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court. They argued the warrant was a violation of Seymour's Fourth Amendment rights to unreasonable search.
“The search that law enforcement used in this case implicates broad privacy concerns that should worry every citizen in the country,” Michael Juba, one of Seymour’s attorneys, told 9NEWS in July 2022. “Law enforcement doesn’t have a suspect. So they go backwards and they search everybody’s search queries to try to find a suspect.”
The courts ruled against Seymour and his attorneys' argument.
"By the Supreme Court upholding the search, the attorneys for this defendant, Seymour, felt that pleading to second-degree murder and being eligible for parole at 30 years beats being eligible for 40 years," Robinson said.
Seymour faces between 16 and 40 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections when sentenced on March 15. The second-degree murder charge typically carries a maximum sentence of 48 years, but in exchange for the plea, the maximum was reduced to 40.
Kevin Bui's next court date is scheduled for Feb. 1.
Siebert was sentenced as an adult to seven years in Youth Offender Services. He was also sentenced in juvenile court to serve three years in the Division of Youth Services. He will serve the time in the Youth Offender Services after his juvenile sentence is completed.
Siebert also faces a suspended sentence of 26 years in Youth Offender Services, which he would only have to serve if he violated the terms of his seven-year sentence.
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