Author: Lance Benzel, The Gazette
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Colorado disbars ‘respected’ attorney Dennis Hartley over misdeeds
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Dennis Hartley reigned as a top attorney in Colorado Springs for years, defending Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and homegrown murderers including Timothy Nicholls, who killed his three children for an insurance payoff. But this week, the long legal career of Hartley, 77, ends without fanfare, the result of a rare disbarment after a laundry…
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COVER STORY | First responders are on the front lines of mental illness
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Patrol cars sit at a tire store in the small El Paso County community of Falcon as a woman sobs in the parking lot, her dog tugging at its leash. A life is at risk – hers – and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office wants to hear her terms in their bid to save…
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A Colorado county’s coroner picks up tab for employees’ mental well-being
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COLORADO SPRINGS – At the El Paso County Coroner’s Office, the role of guiding families through the aftermath of suicides and untimely deaths carries a new directive: a focus on self-care. In a first-of-its-kind program here, the Coroner’s Office has introduced free, quarterly behavioral health screenings for employees who do the heavy lifting. Pathologists and…
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Colorado ‘Dreamer’ avoided jail, but not ICE’s long reach
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Days after being spared prison for a deadly drunken-driving crash, a “Dreamer” – an undocumented immigrant brought to the U.S. as a child – was arrested Wednesday in Colorado Springs by federal immigration authorities intent on deporting him. Now, supporters of Oscar Guerrero-Olivares, 30, want to know why he became a target for U.S. Immigration…
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Judge: Colorado sheriff has no authority to hold people solely at request of immigration authorities
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A judge ruled Thursday that El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder has no authority to continue holding inmates in jail if they are eligible for release, even if federal immigration authorities suspect they are in the country illegally. The move by 4th Judicial District Judge Eric Bentley capped one of two local lawsuits challenging Colorado…
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$4.25 million settlement reached in Colorado inmate’s death
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A correctional health-care provider has agreed to pay $4.25 million in the case of a Fremont County jail inmate who died of prescription drug withdrawal, attorneys said Monday. John Patrick Walter, 53, lost 30 pounds in less than three weeks before dying naked on the floor of his cell April 20, 2014. “We believe it…
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Ex-head of county Republican Party settles lawsuit over pedestrian’s death
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COLORADO SPRINGS – A former El Paso County Republican Party chairman has settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the widow of a pedestrian he hit and killed in downtown Colorado Springs in March 2017. Terms of the Oct. 25 settlement between Trevor Dierdorff and Dianna Tolbert weren’t disclosed, according to court filings reporting the…
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Colorado judge ousted by voters after harsh review faulted him for bias, being rude
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An El Paso County Court judge who was slapped with a scathing job review in this year’s Blue Book will soon be out of a job. Voters on Tuesday ousted Judge Christopher Acker by a six-point margin, casting 86,268 votes against keeping him for another four-year term compared to 76,113 votes in support of his…
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AG candidate Brauchler named in federal suit against Colorado Springs officials
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An ex-El Paso County sheriff’s commander filed a federal lawsuit this week reviving longstanding claims that his 2016 corruption arrest alongside ex-Sheriff Terry Maketa and ex-Undersheriff Paula Presley was fueled by a conspiracy. A 45-page civil complaint from Juan “John” San Agustin Jr. alleges hidden motives and misconduct by a laundry list of public safety…
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Colorado judge graded ‘F’ for bias and rudeness; panel recommends ouster
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An El Paso County judge is counting on voters to look past a scathing performance review in his bid for four more years on the bench. Of 128 Colorado judges up for retention in November, Judge Christopher E. Acker is one of two who received a failing grade from the Colorado Commission on Judicial Performance,…
