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VERNAL — Two Vernal men will spend up to 15 years in prison for gravely wounding a man during a burglary attempt.
Kaden Holmes, 24, and Lynn Richens, 25, were sentenced July 6 to one to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to assisting in the burglary attempt.
Holmes pleaded guilty to reduced charges of attempted aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy, all third-degree felonies. Richens admitted to attempted aggravated burglary and attempted criminal conspiracy, second-degree felonies. A second-degree felony count of aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury was dismissed.
Additional prison terms of one to 15 years for both men — two for Holmes and one for Richens — will run concurrently, but fall consecutive to prison sentences the men are serving in unrelated cases.
Holmes and Richens were accused of accompanying another man, Montana Stubbs, when he went to burglarize a dilapidated trailer home near 1070 S. Vernal Ave. last August. The man who was living in the trailer, Steven Kidd, 50, said he awoke on Aug. 21 and found Stubbs armed with a knife, and Holmes armed with a handgun, in the room with him, charging documents state.
Holmes and Stubbs told investigators Richens had convinced them to burglarize Kidd's trailer, which he said had a safe with drugs and money inside. In an ensuing struggle, Stubbs stabbed Kidd 14 times in his upper back, torso, buttocks and thigh. Kidd survived the attack.
Stubbs, 22, pleaded guilty in January to aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony, and aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury, a third-degree felony. He was originally charged with attempted murder, aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated robbery.
Stubbs was sentenced to five years to life in prison for the attempted murder charge, with an additional concurrent term of up to five years for the assault.
