Stovall Brothers: 2001 Rampage, Life Sentences, and Clemency Bid

Michael and Joel Stovall are identical twin brothers from Colorado who, on September 28, 2001, murdered Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Schwartz, paralyzed Florence Police Corporal Toby Bethel, and shot at 17 officers over a 60-mile armed rampage through Fremont County. Both pleaded guilty and are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 896 years each. In early 2025, Michael Stovall asked Colorado Governor Jared Polis for clemency, drawing immediate opposition from prosecutors and the victims’ families.¹

The 2001 Rampage

On the evening of September 28, 2001, Deputy Jason Schwartz responded to a call about a dog being shot in an alley near the brothers’ grandmother’s home in Penrose, a small community in Fremont County.² Joel and Michael Stovall, both 24, were arrested. Schwartz and a second deputy placed the twins in the back of Schwartz’s patrol car for transport to the Fremont County jail. One brother was searched; the other was not.³ The unsearched brother had two concealed handguns and a homemade plastic handcuff key hidden in his clothing.¹

During transport, Michael Stovall freed himself from his handcuffs, pried through the patrol car’s protective barrier, and shot Schwartz in the back of the head while he was driving.⁴¹³ Schwartz, 26, was killed at the scene. He had served four years with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and left behind his wife, Sheryl, and a five-week-old son.⁵

The brothers fled to a trailer they rented in Florence, Colorado, where they gathered more weapons. Florence Police Chief Mike Ingle called in his entire eight-person department after learning Schwartz had been shot.⁶ Corporal Toby Bethel, a six-year veteran of the Florence police, was ambushed as his cruiser arrived. The Stovalls fired 12 rounds into his vehicle, nine of them striking the driver’s seat area. Four bullets were stopped by his body armor; four others penetrated his body, and two fractured his spine. Bone fragments struck his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the waist down.⁷ Bethel’s body slammed the gas pedal, and his cruiser crashed into a tree.⁸ According to Chief Ingle, the brothers returned to the scene to taunt officers while paramedics were treating Bethel.²

The Stovalls carjacked a pickup truck from a couple at gunpoint and fled west through Cañon City onto U.S. 50, firing a shotgun taken from Schwartz’s patrol car at pursuing officers.² Chief Ingle, who joined the pursuit, was shot in the arm.⁶ Over roughly 60 miles, the brothers exchanged gunfire with Cañon City police, set up an ambush on a canyon curve that wounded another officer, drove over road spikes, and traded shots with officers at a roadblock near Salida before turning back. In all, they fired at 17 different officers, wounding at least three beyond Bethel.³

About a half-mile from the Salida roadblock, the brothers abandoned the truck and disappeared into the mountains. Roughly 100 officers and National Guard helicopters joined the manhunt. The search lasted 24 hours. On the night of September 29, two Colorado State Parks rangers and a Division of Wildlife officer who had been staking out the abandoned truck arrested both brothers without incident when they crept back toward the vehicle.¹ A later search of the brothers’ home turned up additional guns, knives, and what investigators believed to be bomb-making materials.⁹

Who the Stovall Brothers Were

Michael and Joel Stovall had no adult criminal record before September 28, 2001, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.² Their mother, Linda Stovall, worked as a corrections officer at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City, and both twins had previously worked as guards at the same facility. In 1999, Michael enrolled in the police academy at Pueblo Community College but dropped out after one semester. Joel applied to the same program, was denied admission, and studied computer information systems instead.¹⁰ Former classmates described the twins as loners who acted “militant.”

Guilty Pleas and Life Sentences

On November 2, 2001, just over a month after the rampage, both brothers pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated robbery, and 18 counts of attempted first-degree murder. Each received the same sentence: life without the possibility of parole for the murder, plus 896 years for the remaining charges, all consecutive.¹¹

Then–District Attorney Ed Rogers chose not to seek the death penalty, a decision that drew backlash from some community members and law enforcement. Rogers faced a recall effort over it.¹² Florence Police Chief Ingle later said he supported the outcome: “I thought it was handled professionally in my eyes. I agreed with it then, and I still do.”⁶

Where the Brothers Are Now

After sentencing, both brothers were placed in administrative segregation at Sterling Correctional Facility, Colorado’s maximum-security “mega-prison,” held in separate units under 23-hour-a-day lockdown with no-contact visits and no communication with each other.¹² Joel Stovall remains incarcerated at Sterling.¹³ Michael Stovall has since been held at Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility, where he has worked as an Offender Care Aide since 2011.¹

Both have repeatedly challenged their convictions, and none of those efforts has succeeded. Michael filed post-conviction motions in 2012 and 2013 alleging ineffective assistance of counsel, claiming his defense attorney, Ernest Marquez, had pressured him into pleading guilty by saying “You’re going to lose” and “They are going to kill your brother.”¹⁴ Both motions were denied. In 2016, the Tenth Circuit dismissed his federal habeas petition as untimely.¹⁵ A third motion filed in April 2019 was dismissed in July 2020 by Park County District Judge Stephen Groome, who found it raised “essentially the same ineffective assistance of counsel claims” already resolved against him.¹⁶ Joel filed his own challenge in 2009, also alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and arguing his plea was not knowing or voluntary; the Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed the denial in January 2012.¹³

The 2025 Clemency Petition

In early 2025, Michael Stovall, then 48, applied for executive clemency with Governor Jared Polis. He argued that commutation would let him pursue a medical license and work as a medical and genetics researcher, and cited “numerous invention ideas” he said his conviction kept him from developing. He pointed to what he described as a clean disciplinary record over 20 years and his work at Arkansas Valley.¹

Eleventh Judicial District Attorney Jeff Lindsey said his office “categorically opposes” any commutation, stating that Stovall’s sentence of life without parole “will never be mitigated nor should it be commuted.” Lindsey added that Deputy Schwartz’s widow and Officer Bethel were “adamantly and vociferously opposed to clemency.” The warden at Arkansas Valley confirmed Stovall’s program compliance but noted that he “has not completed any significant programming during the last 23 years.”¹

The Officers and Families After the Attack

Jason Schwartz grew up in Pierce, Colorado, attended Highland High School in Ault, and moved with his family to Cañon City before joining the sheriff’s office.¹⁷ His infant son, originally named Mason, was legally renamed Jason Jr. in his father’s honor.⁴ In June 2021, the Colorado General Assembly adopted a resolution designating the Highway 115 overpass at U.S. 50, where Schwartz was killed, as the “Deputy Sheriff Jason Schwartz Memorial Bridge.” The resolution was sponsored by Senator Dennis Hisey and Representative Stephanie Luck.¹⁸ Sheryl Schwartz has since worked as a peer supporter for law enforcement families and a counselor for troubled youth.

Retired Corporal Toby Bethel, who has used a wheelchair since the night of the shooting, said in a 2021 interview that the experience had changed him into a “better person” and that he had reached a point of forgiving the brothers. He has maintained a mentorship relationship with Schwartz’s son.⁸⁷

1
Canon City Daily Record. Stovall Brother Who Murdered Fremont County Deputy in 2001 Seeks Clemency
2
Everett Herald. Manhunt Snares Twins Suspected in Deputy’s Death
3
Officer Down Memorial Page. Deputy Sheriff Jason Schwartz
4
KOAA. Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Schwartz Remembered 20 Years After He Was Killed in the Line of Duty
5
Colorado Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Jason Scott Schwartz
6
Canon City Daily Record. Innocence Lost
7
Pueblo Chieftain. Innocence Lost
8
KOAA. 20 Years Later, Former Florence Police Officer Reflects on Life-Changing Injury
9
Deseret News. Twins’ House Filled With Weapons
10
Pueblo Chieftain. Stovall Twins Once Aspired To
11
Findlaw. People v. Stovall, No. 02CA1340
12
Pueblo Chieftain. Stovall Twins in Solitary Confinement
13
Pueblo Chieftain. Convicted Murderer to Stay Behind Bars
14
Canon City Daily Record. Florence Twin Who Killed Deputy Files Motion for Plea, Sentence to Be Vacated
15
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Stovall v. Falk, No. 16-1286
16
Canon City Daily Record. Judge Dismisses Motion for Post-Judgment Relief
17
Greeley Tribune. Fremont Deputy Attended School in Weld
18
Colorado General Assembly. SJR21-020