Plea deal reached on federal charges in Colorado LGBTQ club massacre

Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The person who pleaded guilty to state charges in a 2022 Colorado Springs LGBTQ club shooting reportedly has reached a plea deal in exchange for pleading guilty to 50 federal hate crime charges and 74 other federal counts.

Anderson Aldrich pleaded not guilty to hate crime charges on Tuesday in connection to the November 2022 AR-15 shooting that killed five people and injured 40 others at Club Q, according to court documents filed by federal prosecutors.

Although some of the hate crime charges against Aldrich call for the death penalty, unsealed court documents indicate there was a plea agreement which removed the death penalty from the table.

Prosecutors agreed to multiple, concurrent life sentences and another 190-year prison sentence, to which Aldrich is expected to plead guilty.

"Among other provisions, the agreement provides that the defendant will plead guilty to every count of a 74-count Information charging him with federal hate crimes in violation of relevant provisions of the Shepard-Byrd Act, 18 U.S.C. § 249, and appurtenant gun crimes in violation of the relevant provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 924," the US District Court documents filed said.

In March 2020 Colorado was the 22nd state to abolish the death penalty.

Aldrich pleaded guilty to state charges in the case this past summer.