Jurors hear from investigators in trial of man accused of killing Colo. Springs mayor’s son-in-law
Jurors in the trial of a man charged with killing the son-in-law of Colorado Springs’ mayor and an Uber driver heard from law enforcement investigators on Friday, pushing closing arguments and jury deliberations into Monday.
Jeffrey Sloan is accused of multiple crimes, including vehicular homicide, assault and leaving the scene of an accident after he reportedly sped through a red light in a stolen Jeep during the early hours of June 9, 2019. The resulting collision at the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver injured Mark Karla, the 45-year-old son-in-law of Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, and killed Yasir Hasan, a 33-year-old Uber driver taking Karla home from a Garth Brooks concert.
Karla would die several weeks later from his injuries.
Sgt. Chad Kuroda of the Denver Police Department testified that through his measurements at the crime scene and video footage of the accident from the department’s Halo surveillance camera, the Jeep was traveling approximately 61 miles per hour through the intersection.
“The speed of the Jeep in combination with a failure to stop for the red light at the intersection is the reason this crash occurred,” Kuroda said.
Christopher Gray, a crime analyst for the Denver District Attorney’s Office, walked jurors through the calls and text messages to Sloan’s phone around the time of the crash. Sloan is accused of fleeing the scene, but left behind his phone and wallet.
18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler and Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Sugioka were the prosecutors on the case because Karla’s wife, Alison Suthers, works for the Denver District Attorney. Brauchler and Sugioka, in seeking to tie Sloan to the phone, asked if Sloan made any phone calls or sent text messages after the 1:08 a.m. crash “to anyone on planet Earth.”
“No,” Gray responded, also speaking to antenna data showing the movement of the phone from east Denver to the crash site.
Victoria Eidsmo, Sloan’s attorney through the public defender’s office, questioned Kayla St. Peter, one of the detectives who investigated the crime. St. Peter testified that she walked around the campus of National Jewish Health looking for additional surveillance cameras, but did not find any. Eidsmo questioned her decision not to follow up with National Jewish or surrounding businesses about possible cameras being present.
“There would be evidentiary value in footage of a suspect fleeing the scene of a very serious car crash, correct?” Eidsmo asked.
“There would be value in it if there was footage, yes,” St. Peter responded.
Sloan would tell police that he had caught a Regional Transportation District bus in the vicinity, but did not give a specific location or time. Eidsmo asked why St. Peter did not pursue video footage from the bus, to which the detective responded that it would have been impractical.
Police arrested Sloan one day after the accident on June 10. Jury selection began on Tuesday, and Denver District Judge John W. Madden IV advised jurors not to drive by the intersection or do outside research before the trial concludes on Monday.

