Judge rules against Pueblo city, exonerating sentences of three men jailed for contempt of court

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – A Pueblo County judge recently sided with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado to release three men “illegally imprisoned” in the Pueblo County Jail.

On Nov. 1, a district court judge ruled that the city of Pueblo violated basic constitutional requirements when it convicted residents by failing to provide them with charging documents that would have allowed them to prepare a defense, according to the ACLU.

Dean Lopez, Lyrcis Martinez and Michael Tafoya were unlawfully jailed for missing court dates in Pueblo under a “contempt of court” city ordinance Pueblo created in 2017.

The ordinance sentences people to up to 364 days in prison, even if the alleged crime that brought the person to court does not warrant any prison sentence.

“In the vast majority of Colorado municipal and state courts, missing a court date results in an arrest warrant, not a new criminal charge. But in Pueblo, when a person misses a court date, non-custodial charges can turn into months in prison,” the ACLU said in a press release. for years,” he wrote.

According to the ACLU, Martinez and Lopez spent hundreds of days in jail on defamation charges; This was much more than the initial sentence they had received for minor crimes. In Tafoya’s case, he was sentenced to prison only on unlawful contempt charges after missing court dates for low-level crimes.

“Pueblo’s actions here violate fundamental constitutional principles,” said ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Tim Macdonald. “People accused of a crime should be provided with a charging document sufficient to prepare a defense. That has never happened here. Using this city ordinance to sentence people to long prison sentences for missing a court date is unfair and must stop.”

On Nov. 1, the judge found that the city of Pueblo had failed to release charging documents that would have allowed the petitioners to prepare a defense and protected them from future charges for the same crimes.

Without these charging documents, the Municipal Court did not have jurisdiction over the cases and voided the resulting convictions. The judge decided to immediately drop the three sentences.

Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham shared her disagreement with the decision on Facebook with the following statement:

“It saddens me that a criminal who has broken the law more than 20 times in my city receives more empathy than the law-abiding citizens of Pueblo who grapple daily with criminal activity throughout our community, including trespassing, theft, loitering, unwanted parties, and more ; but instead of acknowledging the reckless behavior that affects every part of Pueblo, citizens are calling the Mayor’s Office every day asking if the City has a plan to combat crime or help recidivism. When the Court, the Pueblo Police Department, or any other arm of the City works within their authority to address these issues, we face criticism.

Today, Judge Chostner ruled in ACLU v. City of Pueblo that these criminals should technically be released because they did not receive a proper citation or notice for defamation charges, presumably on a piece of paper. But these people skipped court and wasted the city’s time, taxes and resources by not showing up for years. When they finally appeared after being re-arrested, they were given verbal advice, copies of arrest warrants and were represented by counsel. They later waived their right to a trial and voluntarily pleaded guilty to the charges. But none of that matters because they weren’t given a piece of paper.

Now the ACLU has come to the defense of the criminals that plague this city and expects to receive support in their defense. Instead, Puebloans should ask why the ACLU might be complicit in criminal behavior? Why shouldn’t criminals be held accountable and can continue to re-offend in our city? Doesn’t the ACLU realize that homelessness does not mean despair? “Now the greater Pueblo community is helpless in the face of opinions and decisions like those made (Friday).”

-Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham