By Kieran Nicholson | knicholson@denverpost.com | The Denver Post June 4, 2010 at 8:00 am
A man convicted of kidnapping and severely beating another man then dumping the victim in Coal Creek Canyon in sub-freezing temperatures, has been sentenced to 68 years in prison.
Joseph Jackson, 31, is the third of three co-defendants to be sentenced, according to a media release from the Adams County District Attorney’s Office.
On Dec. 10, 2008, a snow plow driver with the Colorado Department of Transportation found the 39-year-old victim lying on Colorado Highway 72 “beaten within inches of his life,” prosecutors said.
The plow driver sheltered the victim in his plow cab and called police.
The victim remembered the license plate of a van used in the crime. The plate number led investigators to the three suspects, prosecutors said.
The victim told investigators he contacted Michelle Huddleston, 21, through an ad posted on Craigslist.
On Dec. 10, 2008, the victim, who was not identified in the release, met Huddleston at her home in Thornton, where he was ambushed by her, Christopher Preston, Joseph Jackson and two other assailants, the DA’s office said.
The victim was beaten, duct-taped, robbed, thrown into a van, and driven to Coal Creek Canyon, where he was dumped in a snow bank in 10-degree weather.
On April 2, 2010, after a five-day jury trial, Jackson was convicted of kidnapping, assault and aggravated robbery.
Preston, 34, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and has been sentenced to 40 years in prison. Huddleston also pleaded guilty to kidnapping and received a 32-year sentence.
The Thornton Police Department investigated the case.
Adams County District Court Judge Chris Melonakis handed down the sentence on Jackson.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
