Daniel Duran

Paroled: June 19, 2004

Committed murder: Sept. 14, 2004

Prison/parole issues: In and out of prison, on and off parole; gang affiliation and drug activity; and in solitary for more than a year.

Date of birth: Oct. 16, 1976 (died Jan. 2, 2010)

"Snoopy" Duran had a father, an uncle and a cousin who went to prison. He would join them soon.

As a high school senior, Duran was expelled for bringing a handgun to school. A year later, he began amassing a criminal record that would land him in prison many times for much of the rest of his life.

In 1995 and 1996, he was arrested on drug, motor-vehicle theft and criminal-trespass charges. He was first sentenced to probation, then imprisoned after a new criminal charge.

In 1997, Duran was paroled early for the first time from a three-year sentence. Less than six months later, he was arrested again for car theft, eluding arrest and assaulting a police officer.

That and another charge brought an eight-year prison sentence in 1998.

While in prison, Duran was placed in solitary confinement for more than a year for introducing drugs and drug paraphernalia and threatening inmates "to maintain control of this activity," according to Department of Corrections records.

Yet in 2003, a year after moving out of solitary, Duran was approved again for early parole. He appeared to be making progress. In prison he earned a high school equivalency degree. He successfully completed courses in behavioral health care, gang awareness and life skills.

But on the streets, he repeatedly violated his parole conditions again. He was caught carrying a handgun and associating with a gang member. He diluted a urinalysis sample. His parole officer found him "visibly drunk" at a strip club.

In December 2003, while awaiting placement in an anger-management program, Duran was sent back to prison for six months. He came out in June 2004 as a high-risk parolee agreeing to a long list of conditions: a mental health evaluation, drug and alcohol treatment programs, no contact with gangs, no gang paraphernalia, no drinking, no bars.

A month later, Duran was briefly jailed after a fight outside a bar. He needed surgery for a broken jaw. He told his parole officer that he was trying to defend himself against gang members who attacked him.

In September 2004, Duran spotted the man who had broken his jaw. A confrontation moved from the bar to the parking lot. As members of the other gang drove away, Duran pulled out a handgun and fired a dozen shots. He killed one man and injured another.

Duran came back to prison with a life sentence that didn't last long.

On Jan. 2, 2010, another murderer at the Limon Correctional Facility stabbed Duran to death in the lunchroom. He was 33 years old.

David Olinger