Denver rife with Wrongful Arrests and Prosecutions

This week papers filed in Denver District Court showed that over 500 people in the last seven years have been wrongly imprisoned in the Denver jail, some spending months behind bars and even taking plea deals for crimes they didn't commit.

The papers were part of a lawsuit brought by civil rights attorneys suing the city and court of Denver on behalf of those wrongly arrested and held by the city.

According to Mark Silverstein, Colorado's ACLU legal director, the endemic wrongful incarceration comes from sloppy and apathetic police work, and prosecutors willing to cut corners to get a conviction at any cost. Silverstein told reporters, "It seems that it ought to be easy to have a procedure so that at least when someone is brought in on a warrant that the ID bureau could check to make sure the one brought in is the one that is wanted.''

The list of mistakes found by the legal team are startling:

- An 18 year-old was arrested when the warrant said the suspect was 30 years older.

- A black man was arrested on a warrant for a white man accused of a sex offense.

- A white man was taken to jail when the actual suspect was a Native American who was a foot taller, and a 100 pounds heavier.

- Carlos Alberto Hernandez was wrongly arrested and jailed twice for burglary and sexual assault even though his tattoos didn't match those described in the warrant.

One of the attorneys involved in the lawsuit said these types of mistaken-identity arrests, "are the tip of the iceberg." The mistakes were found by conducting a key word search in judicial records, attorneys believe there are even more mistakes by police and prosecutors that were coded differently in the record.

In one egregious case a prosecutor coerced a plea out of a man when the arrest warrant was for a woman. Court records showed the Judge's conversation with the prosecutor, identified only Ms. Brown:

''Wrong defendant brought into court. Jamie Milner is a female. The defendant Jamie Sandoval is a male."

''Again wrong person - Yes Ms. Brown, but prints don't match."

''Wrong person entered guilty plea. Pleas vacated.''

''Wrong person entered plea fine paid under duress of arrest."

These wrongful incarcerations have devastating consequences for those accused. Many miss work and face termination, some lose relationships while others have their reputations forever damaged by the criminal accusations.

Hernandez told the Denver Post, "I had problems and numerous arguments with my girlfriend because of the accusation that I was guilty of sexual assault."

City administrators counter that the number of mistakes are small when compared with all the arrests and incarcerations in the city over the same time period.

Related News

Rosenthal calls for Justice Department to Celan up Denver Police Force

Denver's outgoing independent safety monitor, Richard Rosenthal, has called for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the city's police department after repeated misconduct by city law enforcement has gone unpunished.

This recent call is in response to a civil service panel's decision to reinstate two Denver police officers fired after they were found guilty of lying in testimony and on official documents.

Rosenthal said the panel's ruling told police, "You can lie, and if it is not a serious enough lie, you won't get fired.''

Denver Manager of Safety and former Colorado Supreme Court Justice, Alex Martinez, called Rosenthal's comments "Nit-picky" Martinez later said of Rosenthal, "He is criticizing things that don't affect the final outcome."

Denver's Mayor, Michael Hancock, agreed with Rosenthal's assesment and is concerned about bias investigations conducted by the Internal Affairs Bureau. Hancock said, "We have begun the process to really restore the trust," and, "The next frontier is the Internal Affairs Bureau, and we have not begun that process."

The head of the Justice Department's civil rights Division, Thomas Perez, said that his office is in the "threshold stage" of determining if there is cause to investigate the Denver police force.

Rosenthal leaves the toxic law enforcement environment this week for the clean air and fresh thinking of Vancouver British Columbia.

The Wire wishes him well.

"Bad-apple'' cops guilty of lying and excessive force once again carrying a badge and gun in Denver

Less than a week after police-watchdog Richard Rosenthal leaves office, two abusive and deceptive officers he tried to keep off the force are back in blue.

Former Denver police officers Kevin Devine and Ricky Nixon who were fired for lying and excessive use of force during a 2009 - altercation outside an area diner have been reinstated to the police force by the city's Civil Service Commission.

The commission concluded that the officers didn't lie to hide the truth and that, "Nobody involved in the incident or fact finding is without error."

Attorney Qusair Mohamedbhal who represents one of the victims of the officered abuse told reporters, "The city and County of Denver has again tolerated excessive force and constitutional violations by its law enforcement.'' Mohamedbhal went on to say, ''Colorado should be outraged that more taxpayer money will be spent employing these bad-apple police officers."

Another victim, Ana Ortega, told reporters the commission's decision, "makes people think twice about calling 911."

New Denver Police Chief Robert White said he was not familiar the incident, but would look into the matter.

Last year the commission reinstated officers Randy Muir and Dean Sparks who were also fired for a separate incident of excessive force and lying in a 2009 incident in Lower Downtown.

The city is currently' appealing the commissions decision.

Colorado sheriff uses aerial drone to conduct surveillance    

High-tach drones are not only good for the military, the Mesa County sherriff's office thinks it will be a great too1 to keep an eye out fo  criminal activity here in Colorado.

According to a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, Mesa County is one of only three U.S. law enforcemnt agencies to use unmanned aerial vehicles or UAV for police work.

The UAV can fly over 400 feet AGL, stay airborne for over an hour, and send video and infrared imagery back to ground controllers. The Federal Aviation Administration has given the sheriff's office permission to fly the vehicle anywhere in Mesa County and the sheriff does not need a warrant to record. The UAV cost taxpayers $14,000.

Editor's Note

As a Special Forces Officer in the 1990s, I was witness and reluctant participant in some of the earliest UAV testing at an out-of-the-way desert air base outside of Indian Springs, Nevada...right next to the super secret Department of Energy Nevada Test Sight and Area 51. Remember me boys.

The scary part was that as soon as those Nintendo flyboys learned how to control those damn things they started trying to figure out how to arm them. And look how well that has turned out in Pakistan. We've killed a lot of men who may or may not have been supporting the war in Afghanistan. But we also have killed hundreds of Pakistani women and children who had nothing to do with the war.

Just remember, if it's a good idea to watch someone from 400 feet, then it's a great idea to try and kill them from 400 feet. I guarantee there is a sheriff's deputy in Mesa who is, right now trying to figure out how to arm their UAV. That's just who they are, it's what they do.

My advice - wear big hats America, if you think law enforcement won't use their new toy against innocent citizens, go back to the top of this post and read "rife with wrongful arrests" again.