"The Mesa County District Attorney’s Office as of Thursday had dismissed eight criminal cases in the face of questions about the credibility of a now-former Colorado State Patrol trooper.
More dropped cases are expected as prosecutors seek to review hundreds of cases handled by Donald Moseman, a veteran State Patrol trooper who left the employment of the law enforcement agency Dec. 1 following an internal investigation.
The cases that were dismissed Wednesday and Thursday were 2011 misdemeanor drunken-driving arrests in which Moseman was the prosecution’s sole witness, Chief Deputy District Attorney Trish Mahre said.
Motions filed in the cases said dismissal is “in the interest of justice” and the product of “issues relating to proof.”
A Daily Sentinel review of several of the dismissed cases showed at least one with a defendant who had multiple prior DUI arrests.
Local defense attorneys, who were notified Wednesday via email by District Attorney Pete Hautzinger about the investigation of Moseman, were busy tracking down their own cases involving the former trooper.
Defense attorney Andrew Nolan with the Grand Junction firm Peters, Nolan and Devlin said Wednesday’s disclosure didn’t surprise him.
“We’ve been complaining about issues involving Trooper Moseman for a long time,” Nolan said...."
(Paul Shockley)
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1 comment:
And who are the cases? What about all the cases that their sentences are done and it's over? If attorneys complained for years then why didn't the district attorney act?
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