Judge dismisses Jeffco DA's I-70 crash lawsuit over discovery violations

A Jefferson County judge on Wednesday dismissed charges against a driver in a fatal crash on Interstate 70 west of Golden two years ago because prosecutors failed to present evidence to the defense as required by law.

District Court Judge Corinne Magid found that prosecutors missed discovery deadlines multiple times and failed to tell defense attorneys about a witness’s exculpatory testimony until the day before the jury trial began.

He dismissed a reckless driving case against 37-year-old Andrew Mittelstadt after outlining widespread problems with the investigation and prosecution in a 19-page order on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would refile the charges.

Mittelstadt was charged with traffic offenses including reckless driving resulting in death and reckless driving resulting in injury following a crash on westbound I-70 near the C-470 interchange on Dec. 5, 2022.

Court records show Mittelstadt hit a vehicle that was either stopped in front of him or was traveling too slowly on the interstate. He told investigators that he noticed traffic ahead was slow, checked his mirror to see if he could move into the passing lane, then looked back and saw that he couldn’t stop in time to avoid the crash.

The passenger in the car he hit, Ana Briasco De La Rosa, died at the scene of the accidentcourt records show. Another woman was also injured but survived.

The following year, a witness to the crash repeatedly told a Colorado State Patrol trooper that he saw a black SUV cut in front of Mittlelstadt before the crash and that he was unable to avoid the collision.

“This exculpatory information was not presented to the defense until the day before the original trial setting,” Magid wrote.

Magid found that the witness’s testimony was just one of many pieces of evidence that prosecutors did not present to the defense in a timely manner.

A spokesman for the 1st District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Prosecutors missed a deadline to provide 911 call recording, drone photos of the scene, police reports from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, body-worn camera footage from the sheriff’s office, an accident report from the Golden Fire Department, and drone measurements of the scene.

Additional findings regarding the medical condition of the surviving victim of the crash were never submitted, the judge wrote.

Magid argued that prosecutors in the 1st District Attorney’s Office did not deny discovery violations but that the case could proceed with less severe sanctions.

The judge disagreed.

“This evidence was clearly positive and important to Mr. (Mittelstadt), and the Court found that the evidence was suppressed by the State,” he wrote. “Although the Court finds no intentional suppression, the Court finds that these conversations were unintentionally suppressed because they were not properly documented… The Court cannot find a reasonable and less drastic alternative.”

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First Publication Date: November 13, 2024 15:49 MST

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