A dispute over proof in a Denver homicide case is constant even after the defendant pleaded responsible in a “sweetheart” plea deal — an uncommon state of affairs unfolding amid broader considerations in regards to the discovery course of each within the Denver District Attorney’s Office and statewide.
Defense attorneys James Castle and Laura Jensen accused the Denver District Attorney’s Office of being “out of control” and a “rogue office that operates with impunity in regards to their discovery violations” in a 20-page post-conviction aid petition filed Feb. 4 on behalf of their consumer, 34-year-old Rayvell Powell.
Matt Jablow, a spokesman for the DA’s workplace, known as the petition’s language “overheated and divorced from reality.”
The scathing and procedurally uncommon petition comes after a statewide process power in December discovered Colorado’s discovery course of — the system by way of which prosecutors share proof with protection attorneys in prison instances — is in want of a whole overhaul.
Denver District Attorney John Walsh in August vowed to higher his workplace’s practices after judges tossed a handful of instances over discovery violations, and Denver prosecutors final fall discovered discovery issues with one other 750 instances.
Attorneys who weren’t concerned in Powell’s case however who reviewed his petition at The Denver Post’s request advised Powell’s effort to pursue proof he alleges prosecutors withheld, sanctions and a particular grasp post-conviction is inventive but unlikely to succeed, however mentioned the case however amplifies the continued considerations about discovery in Denver prison instances.
“The allegations here are not just about one case — they point to a potential pattern of non-disclosure that, if substantiated, would undermine confidence in the justice system,” mentioned lawyer Hollynd Hoskins.
Castle and Jensen each declined to remark for this story.
A 2021 killing
The dispute started after Denver prosecutors final yr charged Powell with first-degree homicide within the August 2021 killing of 41-year-old Gregory Hopkins exterior Coors Field.
Investigators alleged in an arrest affidavit that Powell organized for one man to carry a gun to a second man, who then shot and killed Hopkins. The two different males have been every convicted of homicide.
Powell was initially arrested and charged in 2021; prosecutors dropped the fees later that yr, citing inadequate proof. Powell was re-charged with first-degree homicide in May in a case dealt with by Chief Deputy District Attorney Courtney Johnston, courtroom filings present.
Jensen and Castle initially acquired about 1,700 pages and 525 gigabytes of discovery materials, however discovered that not less than certainly one of Powell’s codefendants had acquired greater than 10,000 pages of discovery materials, in line with the post-conviction aid petition.
The first batch of discovery omitted, amongst different materials, info that one prosecution witness was beneficial for a U visa, a particular visa supplied to crime victims who assist legislation enforcement, the petition alleges.
The protection attorneys in late November raised the problem of lacking discovery with prosecutors, who offered almost 10,000 pages of extra discovery on Dec. 2.
The subsequent day, the prosecution supplied Powell a deal by which he may plead responsible to reckless manslaughter — a lower-level felony that carries a most six-year jail sentence — and the first-degree homicide cost, which carries life in jail, could be dismissed.
The two sides finally agreed to cap the potential jail sentence at three years as a part of the deal, which Powell accepted, in line with the petition. Powell pleaded responsible Dec. 19 and, with credit score for time served, shall be eligible for parole in June, in line with the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Powell pleaded responsible regardless of figuring out that he had not acquired all the invention within the case, in line with the petition, which seeks quite a few supplies that protection attorneys imagine have been lacking even from the expanded discovery.
Jensen and Castle argue that sanctions and a particular grasp to research the claims of discovery violations and the insurance policies of the DA’s workplace are vital for equity and transparency.
“…Because otherwise prosecutors can withhold evidence, and then extract pleas and sentences of such a nature that a defendant would find difficult to refuse, without evidence seeing the light of day,” their petition reads. “A process which turns a blind eye to a pattern of non-disclosure followed by dispositions without post-conviction remedies or sanctions, would only incentivize prosecutorial misconduct.”
Typically, petitions for post-conviction aid face an uphill battle — partially as a result of the courtroom system values the finality of a conviction, particularly one arrived at by way of a plea settlement, mentioned Stan Garnett, former Boulder County district lawyer.
Discovery disputes often have to be litigated earlier than a conviction is entered, he mentioned, or, if post-conviction, by way of a separate federal civil rights lawsuit.
“I would be surprised if a trial court judge granted relief of discovery on a case where a plea has already been entered,” he mentioned. “…I think courts respond to motions like this with kind of an awareness of, ‘Look, the system is not perfect, sometimes things are missed, but if you want to raise an issue, you need to do it at the right time.’”
Jablow, the spokesman for the Denver DA’s workplace, declined to touch upon the allegations in Powell’s petition besides to say that prosecutors “strongly disagree with many of the assertions.”
“The Denver DA’s Office is committed to complying with all its discovery obligations, and we have taken intensive, proactive steps over the course of the last year to identify and address any discovery issues,” he mentioned in an announcement.
‘Sweetheart’ deal
One difficulty raised within the petition is whether or not the district lawyer’s workplace used what Garnett described as a “sweetheart” plea provide to keep away from disclosing discovery, mentioned prison protection lawyer Angela Campbell.
“Are we making people offers they can’t refuse so that we can then deny people discovery after the fact?” she requested. “…That is the concern — that we don’t want people hiding behind procedure when they are public officials accountable for their acts and omissions.”
Prosecutors shouldn’t be capable of withhold discovery as a device for securing a plea settlement, mentioned Iris Eytan, founding father of the Protect Ethical Prosecutors, a nonprofit group centered on prosecutorial misconduct.
“They hold on to it, they give you a deal — your client goes to prison for three years and maybe he could have been acquitted if he’d known everything,” she mentioned.
Protect Ethical Prosecutors is at present suing the Denver Police Department for failing to show over correspondence between prosecutors and police in regards to the 750 instances with discovery issues — a listing that features certainly one of Powell’s codefendants.
Still, defendants routinely plead responsible, significantly in low-level instances, with out seeing the total discovery, protection lawyer and former prosecutor Colin McCallin famous. A defendant with no prison historical past who exhibits as much as courtroom on a misdemeanor will seemingly be supplied a deal proper off the bat, he mentioned.
“In most of those situations, the defendant has never had a chance to meaningfully view their discovery and figure out whether the prosecution can prove their case — they are just focused on getting out of jail, so they snatch up the deal,” he mentioned, noting that the provide to Powell was “by any standard an insanely good deal.”
“What is going on here is an attempt by the defense to double-dip,” he mentioned. “…I get their point, and I do think the issues they are raising are significant, but to think about it from a public policy perspective, if you waive your rights by pleading guilty, and you say, ‘Well, I’m going to plead guilty and take advantage of this situation,’ it doesn’t seem like we want that person to then reopen their case and contest it based on a discovery violations that might not be material to their case.”
An provide just like the one introduced to Powell is like “dangling a lottery ticket” in entrance of him, Eytan mentioned. Powell might need spent extra time in jail combating for discovery on the first-degree homicide fees — with a life sentence in play — than he’ll by pleading responsible to the reckless manslaughter cost and its three-year sentence, she famous.
“A lot of people don’t understand how difficult it is to make a decision like this, and they say, ‘Well, you must have been guilty, because who would plead guilty if you didn’t do it, and he should have just waited to go to trial on the case and let the system play itself out,’” she mentioned. “But what about the system was fair this whole time? What would give him faith to think the system would be fair to him in the end? Nothing.”
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