DENVER — Jay Bianchi — a Denver jam band scene fixture and former Grateful Dead-themed bar owner who was convicted of sexual assault — was sentenced on Friday to one year in jail followed by 10 years in prison.
The sentencing comes after a Denver jury found Bianchi, 57, guilty of three counts of sexual assault and two counts of unlawful sexual contact in November 2025 following a trial that lasted roughly a month. Bianchi will also have to register as a sex offender.
During Friday's hearing, which lasted around an hour and a half, two of the counts were merged together. As a result, Bianchi was sentenced on three charges: two class 4 felony sex assault charges, and one class 1 misdemeanor unlawful sexual conduct charge.
Prosecutors moved to dismiss the remaining counts that the jury failed to reach a verdict on at trial, and the judge granted their request.
Bianchi was sentenced to five years in the Department of Corrections for each of the sex assault charges, along with 365 days in Denver County Jail for the unlawful sexual conduct charge. The sentences will run consecutively, totaling to one year in jail followed by 10 years in prison.
While the judge's sentence was not the maximum amount of time that it could have been, it was a stark contrast to the defense team's request for probation.
One of the survivors who spoke at Friday's sentencing said the assault has "stolen years" of her life.
“This is now a permanent part of my life. That is my sentence, and it doesn’t end. There is no release date for me… This is a lifelong sentence that I never asked for, I never deserved, and I will never escape," she said. "Jay Bianchi raped me. That is my life sentence. I believe he deserves a sentence that reflects that."
Another survivor said that "in order to keep other women safe" she subjected herself to "humiliation" throughout the trial. She continued to say the survivors were re-traumatized by Bianchi's defense team.
The courtroom also heard from a survivor who described consuming a drink at So Many Roads, which led to a "complete memory blackout that lasted about 12 hours."
"The reality that I will never fully know what occurred during those 12 hours is deeply jarring and unsettling," she told the judge.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Bree Beasley noted that cases like this are not only about sex, but about power and control dynamics.
“We have to show that these cases are serious, that survivors are believed," Beasley said.
Meanwhile, Bianchi's defense attorneys requested a probationary sentence, saying that would allow their client the chance to be rehabilitated.
His team said Bianchi demonstrates the characteristics needed to make changes in his life, adding that he did an "enormous" amount of work to grow the jam band community in Denver.
Then, Bianchi read a prepared statement to the courtroom.
“Your honor, I do believe I’m innocent and continuing my appeal process. Despite my fall from grace, my job as a leader, the face of a social group, is to deliver a safe and thoughtful place for all to enjoy," Bianchi began. “I want my story to be of redemption. I’m willing and actively putting in effort to change my arch. I realize this is a lot like defying gravity… Someday, I would like my life back."
Bianchi said he will put in "endless hours of work" to change the public's perspective of him.
“I am at my heart, an alchemist, turning lead into gold," he said. "What has happened seems to be unfortunate, but I believe in the long run, it is a lucky accident of fate."
Throughout Bianchi's statement, he made references to the "utopian nature" of the Grateful Dead, a prolific band which became the theme of his bars.
"With great power comes great responsibility. I feel that I am a good person with a lot to share. Please give me the opportunity to demonstrate my quest for self-improvement," Bianchi said, before begging the court for mercy in his sentence.
The judge noted that it was unclear whether Bianchi takes responsibility for his behavior.
“What I heard, during the course of the trial from the testimony of the victims who you were convicted of assaulting, was a horrific account of their interactions with you,” Denver District Court Judge Andrew Luxen said before handing down Bianchi's sentence. “What I heard from those victims was you taking advantage of them, taking advantage of them in a vulnerable moment."
Luxen also commended the bravery of the survivors who came forward in this case.
"To come into a place like this and describe to a jury — to a group of strangers — how you were sexually assaulted, takes a huge amount of courage," Luxen said.
Bianchi was arrested in April 2024 in connection with three incidents that occurred between 2020 and 2024 at two now-shuttered bars he formerly owned, So Many Roads and Sancho's Broken Arrow. He faced 11 charges and pleaded not guilty.
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"Jay Bianchi was a serial sexual predator. Over several years, he sexually assaulted women who were physically incapable of defending themselves," Denver District Attorney John Walsh said in a statement on Friday. "As a result of today’s sentence, Bianchi is paying the price for his terrible actions and we hope that his victims can draw comfort from that fact.”
Bianchi reportedly transferred ownership of the bars in 2020, but remained involved in the bars' operations. In February 2021, one of the bartenders told undercover officers that Bianchi had transferred ownership of both bars “because the original owners name (Jay Bianchi) was too hot with law enforcement," Denver7 previously reported.
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The bars faced legal trouble when an undercover investigation by police during 2021 and 2022 found employees of both bars serving alcohol to minors and employees of Sancho's Broken Arrow allegedly selling cocaine, MDMA and DMT out of the bar, Denver7 reported.
Bianchi received 648 days of pre-sentence confinement credit.
The defense team objected to the restitution request of $1,500, and a restitution hearing was scheduled for Feb. 12.
Bianchi has 49 days to work on his appeal, with a public defender appointed to his case after the court found he is indigent.
