SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Defendant in cocaine case to remain jailed"

"An Eastern European man will remain in jail despite the suppression of key evidence in his cocaine case, a judge said Monday.

Andrian Arapu, 25, of Moldova, has been in jail since his arrest in April on a felony count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Earlier this month, Judge Gail Nichols of Pitkin County District Court ruled that evidence found in his former residence at the Copper Horse Apartments on Main Street cannot be used.

When he was originally detained by immigration agents for being in the country on an expired visa, Arapu gave a police detective permission to stay behind to collect the defendant’s personal effects and to lock up.

But Nichols ruled that the detective exceeded the scope of that authority when he remained in the residence, which other officers allegedly entered without Arapu’s permission, and eventually found nearly 1.5 ounces of cocaine, a scale, baggies and a loaded handgun.

After the ruling, Chief Deputy District Attorney Arnold Mordkin, who told Nichols that he cannot prosecute Arapu without that evidence, filed a notice of appeal with the Colorado Supreme Court. That automatically stays all proceedings in the case, including a potential motion to dismiss.

“I don’t have any choice. I have to wait” for the state Supreme Court’s decision, Nichols said...."
(Chad Abraham)

(Read more?  Click title.  Comment to discuss)

"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "DA staff to get bonuses, not salary increase"

"District Attorney Martin Beeson has dropped a 2 percent staff salary increase from his 2012 budget, in response to a request from the Pitkin County commissioners.

He is instead budgeting for a 1.5 percent end-of-year bonus, if economic conditions allow. The county is on track to give a similar bonus to its own employees next year, lifting a salary freeze that has been in place since 2009.

Beeson’s request for a staff raise was met with varying responses in all three of the counties his office serves — Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco.

Garfield County commissioners had OK’d the 2 percent salary increase. Rio Blanco had opposed a raise or any bonus, because it is poised to continue a salary freeze for its employees through 2012.

“The Rio Blanco County commissioners have declined to participate in this plan as they do not believe they can do so in good conscience while denying their own employees a compensation increase of any sort,” Beeson wrote last week in an updated budget memorandum to the Pitkin County commissioners.

The tri-county DA’s budget has to be approved by all three counties that fund its operations.

“That put the DA’s office in something of an awkward position,” Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock told the commissioners Tuesday.

Beeson is moving forward with the bonuses, using funding from Garfield and Pitkin counties only. He has pledged to pay for Rio Blanco’s portion — $2,100 — out of his own salary...."
(Andrew Travers)

(Read more?  Click title.  Comment to discuss)

"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Aspen Times/Letter to the Editor "Questions still unanswered"

Note from SandBox:   Comment ability is not blocked on this post.  However, comments will remain closely monitored on all Lofgren news.  Please recall all that SandBox has ever stated on Lofgren as to the reasons why.  Remember, the closure for the family and the respect all citizens we know of have shown by respectfully honoring the family at all times in their comments will be required if you wish to post here. Please also remember that with the preventable failure of prosecution to try these cases; SandBox now errs on the side of the family.  All the answers they need should be brought forward and in part, those answers cannot come unless citizenry requires them.  Nowhere, in the present culture of  the 9th Judicial District, is there freedom for the folks to speak up freely.  SandBox is not the depository for avatars trying to make up that deficit.  It is simply one of three regional blogs that believe the only current means your need to be heard has is through alternative media.  Maybe, just maybe, law enforcement and prosecutors in the 9th and in other Colorado districts where the citizenry has the same problem will finally set up safe, neutral means for the folks to express all of their concerns and knowledge.  Until then, out of the three we know of; SandBox Commentators moderates all incoming on these very sensitive issues.  Please stick to the areas in Lofgren that you control.  Which are:   the demand for accountability of what went wrong on Popcorn Lane that has forever shattered the hearts of surviving family, the preventable failure(s) that were the criminal allegations from the moment they were contemplated to be filed, and the power your vote holds in the politics of all elected officials involved from the day the Lofgrens were lost.

(See related stories and comments here and here)

"Why was this home so lethal? Why was there no carbon monoxide detector in the home as required by law? Why did this home have a certificate of occupancy? Who is responsible for their deaths? Three years later, there are many unanswered questions. We had hoped that the criminal trials would give us some insight into what happened. We had hoped to hear the evidence that the grand jury heard, evidence that compelled them to issue indictments.

We want to understand the seeming cascade of failures that led to this tragedy. We want to understand how to prevent this from happening again. We want to educate people about carbon monoxide poisoning, and we want to influence legislation to make carbon monoxide detectors as ubiquitous as smoke detectors...."
(Christina Fedolfi, on behalf of the extended family of Caroline, Parker, Owen and Sophie Lofgren)

(Learn more?  Read the rest by clicking title.  Comment to discuss)

"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."