The Club Q shooter who killed five people and injured dozens of others is expected to plead guilty to federal hate crime and gun charges, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado.
Court filings show prosecutors proposed a plea deal for the convicted killer, who immediately pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
If the shooter changes his plea to guilty and decides to take the deal, he would likely be sentenced to 190 years in prison, the documents said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver filed the federal hate crimes and gun charges against the 23-year-old who already pleaded guilty to state charges of murder and attempted murder in the November 2022 shooting in Colorado Springs.
Under Colorado law, federal hate crimes carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, and federal weapons charges carry the maximum of a death penalty.
These federal charges come seven months after Aldrich pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder, one for each person at Club Q during the shooting. The shooter is already serving multiple life sentences in the state case.
The court filings said part of the decision to offer the deal was to help minimize danger to the staff who would be transporting him between the Wyoming State Penitentiary where he is currently serving time and Denver, where the federal trial would be held.
The documents go on to say that moving forward with a trial would also pose a burden on victims and stakeholders in the case who'd have to travel to Denver for the hearings.
Ed Sanders, a survivor of the shooting, said he is ready for the whole process to be over with.
“Originally I wanted the death penalty for him because he showed indifference to us by his actions. He just sprayed the crowd. He didn’t care. But then after talking with the survivors, that process would be years and years and we don’t want to go through that," said Sanders.
There are multiple steps in this legal process and one of them is conducting a pre-sentencing investigation before the shooter can change his plea. The U.S. Attorney's Office said a date for the entry of a guilty plea has not yet been set. It is expected that the change of the plea and sentencing hearings will happen on the same day.
Daniel Kay, a Colorado Springs attorney, said victims have a say in every plea agreement. He said the expected plea and sentencing happening on the same day will minimize the burden on victims who want to be there for the hearing.
“That’s for the victims in the case. There’s not an endless procedure out there that things are going on, there’s multiple court dates and the victims have to show up for all the court dates and they have to go up to Denver for all these dates," said Kay.
If convicted of federal charges, it is unclear if the shooter will serve his sentence in state or federal prison. Kay said state prisons often have much worse conditions than federal prisons because of less security which translates to more risk for inmates.
“State prison would be a lot worse for him than federal prison," said Kay. “The prison system in state courts are much more crowded and much worse conditions and much more violent.”
The deadly shooting at Club Q took the lives of Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh, Raymond Green Vance, and Kelly Loving. A year after the shooting, the victim's families spoke about their loved ones.
WATCH: FAMILIES OF FIVE VICTIMS KILLED AT CLUB Q REMEMBER THEIR LOVED ONES
The three heroes who took down the shooter that night shared their stories of the moments that they confronted Aldrich.
WATCH: CLUB Q HEROES DISCUSS THE MOMENTS WHEN THEY CONFRONTED THE SHOOTER
The Vice President of Operations, Michael Anderson, announced that in Oct. they plan to open a new restaurant and lounge called "The Q" inside of the Satellite Hotel.
WATCH: LEADERS WITH CLUB Q COME UP WITH A PLAN TO START MOVING FORWARD
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