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Man Convicted of First-Degree Murder in Death of Colorado Jeweler
Peter Damian Arguello, a jeweler in the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge, was found dead inside his store in November 2023.
Shortly after the November 2023 murder of jeweler Peter Damian Arguello, the community held a vigil outside his store, Peter Damian Fine Jewelry & Antiques. Last week, one of the two men charged in connection with Arguello’s murder was found guilty of first-degree murder, among other charges. (Photo courtesy of @WheatRidgePD on X)
Wheat Ridge, Colo.—A jury in Jefferson County, Colorado, has convicted the man charged in the November 2023 murder of a jeweler in a Denver suburb.
According to an update from the Colorado First Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which serves Jefferson and Gilpin counties, 42-year-old Charles Robinson Shay was found guilty on all 11 charges brought against him in connection with the death of Peter Damian Arguello.
Arguello, 64, was the owner of Peter Damian Fine Jewelry & Antiques in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
Police found Arguello dead inside of his jewelry store on the morning of Nov. 29, 2023, and began investigating the case as a possible robbery homicide.
They were looking for two men.
One was caught on surveillance video inside the store and was seen attempting to bind Arguello with flex cuffs before shooting him, while another was seen fleeing the scene with the first suspect.
Witnesses told police they saw two men leave through the back door of the jewelry store and jump in a red Chevy Silverado pickup truck that, police later determined, had been stolen and was found torched.
On Dec. 27, 2023, police arrested Shay and charged him with second-degree burglary, as well as felony motor vehicle theft in the second degree and criminal possession of an identification document, after he admitted to police that on Dec. 26, he had pried open the door and entered Peter Damian Fine Jewelry & Antiques.
According to an affidavit filed after Shay’s arrest, he told police he’d heard about the robbery homicide and decided to break in and steal what he could from the store because he knew it was unoccupied.
Ultimately, though, there was nothing in the store for him to take, Shay said.
Evidence recovered from the scene indicated that Shay knew more about Arguello’s murder than he was telling police, as DNA recovered from the flex cuffs left at the scene came back to Shay via the Combined DNA Index System, better known as CODIS.
Shay was charged in Arguello’s murder a couple weeks later, on Jan. 18, 2024.
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According to an update from the Colorado First Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which serves Jefferson and Gilpin counties, 42-year-old Charles Robinson Shay was found guilty on all 11 charges brought against him in connection with the death of Peter Damian Arguello.
Arguello, 64, was the owner of Peter Damian Fine Jewelry & Antiques in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
Police found Arguello dead inside of his jewelry store on the morning of Nov. 29, 2023, and began investigating the case as a possible robbery homicide.
They were looking for two men.
One was caught on surveillance video inside the store and was seen attempting to bind Arguello with flex cuffs before shooting him, while another was seen fleeing the scene with the first suspect.
Witnesses told police they saw two men leave through the back door of the jewelry store and jump in a red Chevy Silverado pickup truck that, police later determined, had been stolen and was found torched.
On Dec. 27, 2023, police arrested Shay and charged him with second-degree burglary, as well as felony motor vehicle theft in the second degree and criminal possession of an identification document, after he admitted to police that on Dec. 26, he had pried open the door and entered Peter Damian Fine Jewelry & Antiques.
According to an affidavit filed after Shay’s arrest, he told police he’d heard about the robbery homicide and decided to break in and steal what he could from the store because he knew it was unoccupied.
Ultimately, though, there was nothing in the store for him to take, Shay said.
Evidence recovered from the scene indicated that Shay knew more about Arguello’s murder than he was telling police, as DNA recovered from the flex cuffs left at the scene came back to Shay via the Combined DNA Index System, better known as CODIS.
Shay was charged in Arguello’s murder a couple weeks later, on Jan. 18, 2024.
According to the DA’s office, Shay’s trial lasted seven days, with deliberations beginning on Aug. 4 and the jury returning guilty verdicts on 10 of the 11 counts on the afternoon of Aug. 6.
There then was a second phase of the trial during which the jury weighed an 11th charge, called “habitual criminal,” that, under Colorado law, could add to Shay’s prison sentence.
Jurors heard from four additional witnesses about Shay’s six prior convictions and, after deliberating for an hour, found him guilty of being a habitual criminal, concluding that the prior convictions were “separate and distinct” criminal episodes, the DA’s office said.
Charles Robinson Shay, right, was found guilty in the murder of jeweler Peter Damian Arguello, while Michael McCormack’s trial is scheduled to start later this month. (Photos courtesy of the Wheat Ridge Police Department)
The other charges the jury found Shay guilty of are: murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, second-degree kidnapping, aggravated robbery, second-degree motor vehicle theft, second-degree arson, tampering with physical evidence, second-degree motor vehicle theft, and second-degree burglary.
His sentencing is set for Sept. 10, the DA’s office said, and he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole on the first-degree murder charge alone.
The second man arrested and charged in connection with Arguello’s murder, 51-year-old Michael McCormack, is slated to go to trial Aug. 22.
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