Left inset: Body camera footage shows Taylor Burrows being chased by Colorado police outside Aubrey Cadwell’s residence in Highlands Ranch (23rd Judicial District/KDVR). Right inset: Aubrey Cadwell (KDVR/YouTube). Background: The Douglas County Justice Center in Colorado, the location where Taylor Burrows was sentenced last week to probation instead of imprisonment (KDVR/YouTube).
Prosecutors have criticized a Colorado judge for deciding that a 31-year-old man convicted of “violently assaulting” and stalking his ex-fiancee should receive probation rather than incarceration, so he can address his mental health and personal issues.
“This is a second betrayal,” stated 25-year-old victim Aubrey Cadwell in a statement released by the 23rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office last Thursday following Taylor Burrows’ contentious sentencing.
“First by the man who hurt me, and now by a legal system that was supposed to protect me,” expressed Cadwell. “I trusted this judge to make an impartial decision, but she chose to disregard evidence, and put the public, and me and my family in danger. There is no justice.”
According to prosecutors, Burrows, from Lakewood, was convicted in February of strangling Cadwell at her Highlands Ranch home in 2023. The attack occurred after Burrows accused Cadwell of being unfaithful, as noted by the DA’s office.
“She was able to flee to a neighbor’s house and called for assistance,” prosecutors explained Thursday. Burrows was detained soon after, but his violent behavior did not end there.
“The case against Burrows grew more concerning in 2024 when he strangled another person in El Paso County and threatened to kill him,” the DA’s office said.
Burrows, who had a restraining order placed on him by Cadwell, was convicted of assault and stalking her. He was classified as a “maximum risk to reoffend” by probation officers after evidence showed he violated the restraining order multiple times and was caught throwing rocks at Cadwell’s windows.
Douglas County District Judge Victoria Klingensmith referred him to two separate community corrections boards in two different jurisdictions and both rejected him due to “concerns about risk and public safety,” according to the DA’s office.
“Despite those warnings and his criminal record, the judge sentenced Burrows to probation — a move that drew sharp criticism from prosecutors,” the DA’s office recounted Thursday. “Burrows also offered no apologies and expressed no remorse for his conduct.”
Cadwell told local Fox affiliate KDVR that Klingensmith’s decision was “extremely infuriating,” and it was scary for her to know that Burrows is now “free to walk among us.”
“Klingensmith decided that he needed to work on his mental health,” Cadwell lambasted. “And work on his own demons.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Nate Marsh, who handled the case, told KDVR he always respects the court’s determinations “because it is charged with finding a sentence that is both just and protective of the victim and the community.” But he’s still wrestling with Klingensmith’s decision.
“It is difficult to view this outcome as accomplishing either of these goals,” Marsh said in a statement. “When victims do everything right — they come forward, they testify, and a jury agrees — they should not be failed at sentencing. Probation for a proven abuser who has a history of ignoring the court’s prior orders…it is understandable that the victim feels betrayed, and at risk.”
District Attorney George Brauchler told the station that prosecutors are at the mercy of judges who “alone” determine the appropriate sentence in cases like this. But that doesn’t make it any easier when a sentence like this gets handed down, he explained.
“Here, a convicted high risk domestic abuser — whose longest period of lawful behavior has been while he was in jail on this case — has been returned to our neighborhoods contrary to the recommendations of everyone in the system…except the convicted abuser,” Brauchler concluded. “What message does this send to domestic violence victims who are searching for the courage and support to come forward?”
Burrows’ lawyer, Mark Savoy, sent a statement to KDVR saying Klingensmith “properly sentenced” Burrows after a “thorough review of all relevant information” in the case.
“She did what any judge with integrity would do,” Savoy said. “She placed Mr. Burrows on probation with meaningful supervision after he had already served 19 months in jail.”
Klingensmith did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment on Tuesday.
