GOLDEN, Colo. (May 30, 2023) – Marqueil Banks and Michael Mendoza have been sentenced for the murders of eighteen-year-old Damian Wikoff and seventeen-year-old Dillon Wikoff in Lakewood in 2020. Banks was sentenced today and is the final of four juveniles to be sentenced for the murders.
The investigation by agents from the Lakewood Police Department revealed that on Aug. 23, 2020, Damien and Dillon arranged to sell a homemade ‘ghost gun’ assembled from a kit they purchased online, as well as trade for another gun. Instead, co-defendant Mendoza recruited a group of juveniles to rob the brothers. During the robbery, Damien and Dillon were shot and killed by Banks.
Mendoza pled guilty on Jan. 31, 2022, to Aggravated Robbery (F3) and Manslaughter (F4). As a result of his plea, Mendoza faced 10-25 years in the Department of Corrections. On April 27, 2023, Mendoza was sentenced to 20.5 years. On Mar. 31, 2023, Banks was convicted by a Jefferson County jury of two counts of First Degree Murder and Aggravated Robbery. Today, Banks received the following sentence:
Count 1: Murder in the First Degree – After Deliberation – Damian Wikoff
• Life with the possibility of parole after 40 years
Count 2: Murder in the First Degree – After Deliberation – Dillon Wikoff
• Life with the possibility of parole after 40 years
• Consecutive to count 1
Count 3: Murder in the First Degree – Felony Murder – Damian Wikoff
• Merges into count 1
Count 4: Murder in the First Degree – Felony Murder – Dillon Wikoff
• Merges into count 2
Count 5: Aggravated Robbery –Damian Wikoff
• 32 years DOC, concurrent to count 1
Count 6: Aggravated Robbery – Damian Wikoff
• Merges into count 5
In May 2021, a third juvenile, age 15 at the time of the crime, pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Robbery (F4) and received two years of Juvenile Intensive Supervised Probation.
In April 2022, a fourth juvenile, age 15 at the time of the crime, pled guilty to Murder in the First Degree (F1) and received four years in the Department of Youth Services.