Man pleads guilty in murder of 2 fellow soldiers

Bruce Bastien Jr. could have gotten two life sentences in the murder of two fellow Fort Carson soldiers.

Instead, the 22-year-old Iraq war veteran pleaded guilty Monday to three felony counts in the 2007 shooting deaths of Kevin Shields on Dec. 1 and Robert James on Aug. 4, and an assault case in which a Colorado Springs woman was repeatedly stabbed. He will be sentenced to 60 years in prison, according to the agreement.

Bastien's trial in Shields' homicide was set to start Monday.

Co-defendant Kenneth Eastridge, 24, pleaded guilty July 11 to accessory to murder in the Shields homicide and will be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

That leaves only former Fort Carson soldier and Iraq war veteran Louis Bressler, 25, to stand trial on first-degree murder charges in both men's deaths.

Eastridge and Bastien both agreed to testify against Bressler, who Bastien previously told investigators was the shooter in both cases.

Bressler is scheduled to stand trial in Shields' homicide Sept. 29. The trial had been scheduled to start Aug. 11, but was delayed by 4th Judicial District Judge Theresa Cisneros on Friday. The delay came because Bressler's investigator recently found a bloody glove in the car the men were riding in the night of Shields' homicide. Ed Farry, Bressler's court-appointed attorney, asked Cisneros for the delay so he could independently test the glove. Colorado Springs police missed the evidence after they took custody of the car following the men's arrest, Farry told Cisneros.

Shields was shot in the head early Dec. 1; his body was found later that day on a sidewalk in the 200 block of 16th Street on the west side. Bastien told police that Shields was killed because he knew too much about supposed robbery plans the former soldiers had made.

James was robbed and shot to death Aug. 4. He begged for his life that night, Bastien told investigators, and began throwing money at the men - but he was shot and his body was left in The Bank at Broadmoor parking lot.

In the assault case, Bastien admitted to Colorado Springs police that the men were riding around in Bressler's car Oct. 2 when they hit a 19-year-old woman in the 900 block of South Chelton Road. A detective testified that the woman almost died after the suspects hit her with the car, then got out and beat and stabbed her multiple times - including in the face. The men then allegedly took her backpack.

Bastien pleaded guilty Monday to accessory to murder in the Shields homicide, conspiracy to commit firstdegree murder in the James homicide and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery in the October stabbing. All other charges - including two counts of first-degree murder - were dropped, according to the agreement.

Bastien, Bressler, Eastridge and Shields served together in Iraq with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. All were in the same platoon of C Company, 2nd Battalion of the 12th Infantry Regiment. Bressler and Bastien, who were discharged from the Army, returned from Iraq last summer. Eastridge returned from a second deployment in October and was not suspected of being involved in the James homicide.

Eastridge and Bastien are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 25.

All three remain in custody without bond at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center.