Jury Convicts Greeley Man of Assault after He Severely Beat Woman
Published on January 09, 2019
GREELEY, Colo. (Weld County D.A.) – After a week-long trial, a Weld County jury convicted a Greeley man of severely beating a woman in his Greeley home last year.
Police arrested 43-year-old Phillip Romero in April of 2018 after they received a report of an assault at his home on 7th Avenue in Greeley.
Officers met with the female victim at the hospital where she was being treated for a broken leg and bruising throughout her body.
The victim told police she had been in an intimate relationship with Romero for about two months and had arrived at Romero’s home at about 10 o’clock in the morning on April 11th.
She said the defendant began accusing her of being with other men and becoming extremely angry. He then used wooden decorations in his home to beat her, causing serious bodily injury. The victim told police that at one point, the defendant grabbed a knife and threatened to stab her several times.
He then locked the victim inside his home and wouldn’t allow her to leave for several hours.
She told police she was finally able to escape after about six hours when she convinced him to follow her to the bank so she could get him money she owed him.
“This man has no business walking the streets of Weld County anymore,” Weld District Attorney Michael Rourke said. “He is a repeat offender and is an extremely violent individual. Our job is to serve and protect this community from evil people like Mr. Romero. He deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison where he’ll no longer be able to torture innocent victims like he’s done in the past.”
The jury convicted Romero Wednesday of the following charges:
COUNT 1: ASSAULT IN THE FIRST DEGREE (F3)
COUNT 2: ASSAULT IN THE SECOND DEGREE (F4)
COUNT 3: MENACING (F5)
COUNT 4: FALSE IMPRISONMENT (M2)
Romero was also charged with one count of Habitual Criminal, which is a sentencing enhancer.
The Court will decide whether he’s guilty of that charge at a hearing on April 4th at 1:30 p.m. in Division 16.
If convicted of the Habitual Criminal charge, Romero faces a mandatory sentence of 96 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
However, if the Court does not find him guilty of the habitual phase, Romero faces 10 to 32 years in DOC.
Deputy District Attorneys Patrick Roche and Lillie Parker prosecuted this case.