Chad Abraham:
"....In other court news, Nichols agreed with a county court judge that the Aspen prosecutor’s office had attempted to harass a local man.
The judge refused to accept the filing of a felony count of assault of a police officer against Alex Velasquez, 37.
Velasquez was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest after Snowmass Village police said he pummeled a drinking buddy near a bank on Feb. 10, 2011. In the arrest affidavit, Snowmass police Sgt. Brian Olson wrote that Velasquez, when confronted, pushed police officer Franz Zedlacher in the chest.
On Aug. 4, the day before a trial was scheduled for Velasquez, prosecutors attempted to have the misdemeanor case dismissed, and Mordkin the same day filed the felony count in Pitkin County District Court. Regarding his office’s effort to dismiss the county case, Mordkin told Judge Erin Fernandez-Ely of Pitkin County Court on Aug. 5 that he first learned only the previous day of the alleged shoving of the officer, prompting the filing of the felony.
Fernandez-Ely, however, ruled that the grounds for the filing of “felony charges existed at the time of the arrest, on Feb. 10, 2011,” she wrote. “Waiting until the eve of trial was not warranted.”
Mordkin’s decision to charge the defendant with a felony resulted in Velasquez being rousted around 2 a.m. from his camping site on Aug. 5 and arrested.
“The court finds that this harsh procedure was designed to harass and intimidate the defendant,” Fernandez-Ely ruled.
Monday, Nichols agreed, and she apologized to Velasquez on behalf of the court system.
“This whole thing has been done wrong,” Nichols said.
Prosecutors never stated the “good cause” needed in the process involved in dismissing a lower-court case in favor of a felony filing, the judge said.
Nichols said it was “totally ridiculous” that Velasquez has had to report to two differ ent court jurisdictions since his arrest.
“At your expense, we have all learned a lot,” the judge said.
Velasquez is due back in county court March 6....." (Read more? Click title)
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