Discovery violations cited in at least 23 cases since former El Paso County prosecutor took over the office

Eleventh Judicial District Attorney Jeffrey Lindsey and his entire office in Fremont County were removed from a double homicide and kidnapping case after a judge on Monday found multiple discovery violations.

Eleventh Judicial District Judge Lauren Swan cited at least 23 different cases with discovery violations since November 2024, when Lindsey took over for Linda Stanley, a former attorney disbarred for inappropriate comments to the media and an improper attempt to remove a judge from a high-profile murder case.

Lindsey had also been previously fired from his position at the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in 2021 due to incompetence, The Gazette previously reported.

The 11th District Attorney’s Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment via phone call.

Swan’s review of Lindsey stemmed from an inmate who took a plea deal over five years ago.

Colorado court documents state Anthony Fogle, a co-defendant in a double homicide and kidnapping case, was made a confidential informant by Lindsey and Fremont County Sheriff’s Detective Charles Krueger following a plea deal in 2021.

Fogle, who was facing about 10 years in prison for several felony-level charges, took the deal, which lowered his charges to a careless driving infraction, court documents show.

A year later, Fogle was tied to the double murder and kidnapping alongside a woman named Toni Gurule. They are accused of holding two men at gunpoint, tying them up with zip ties and then driving them to a secluded location before shooting and killing them, The Wet Mountain Tribune reported.

Gurule’s defense attorney, Josh Tolini, a longtime Colorado Springs-based criminal lawyer, filed a motion asking Swan to remove Lindsey from the case after learning Fogle was never officially made a confidential informant. According to Tolini, Lindsey and Krueger did not file the proper paperwork because they knew state Department of Corrections guidelines would prohibit Fogle from acting as one while on parole.

In a hearing on Thursday, Tolini questioned Lindsey, who offered no explanation on the matter and claimed he had no memory of the plea deal despite evidence suggesting otherwise, including court records showing his signature on the deal. An expert also testified saying the deal was so highly unusual it would be difficult to forget, according to Tolini.

“In my 30 years of practice, I have never seen a district attorney’s office act that way,” Tolini told The Gazette. “It is incredibly rare to have a DA removed from a case.”

In light of the removal, a special prosecutor, who Tolini said will be a district attorney from another office, will lead the case.

Tolini said Lindsey’s actions, and a troubled pattern with the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, vastly undercut the public’s trust.

Not only were there ethics violations, Tolini said there’s evidence Lindsey broke the Colorado Victim Rights Act by not telling the family of the two murder victims about Fogle’s plea deal.

“Because Lindsey decided to skirt these guidelines, two people are dead,” Tolini said.