By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — The Weld County district attorney’s office may not use evidence from a raid on a tax preparation service in prosecuting Ramon Gutierrez, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled. The ruling applied only to a single criminal case; a related civil case remains undecided.
In Monday’s 4-2-1 decision in People v. Gutierrez, the court found the warrant used to obtain the evidence from Amalia’s Translation and Tax Service was illegal. In the majority opinion, Justice Michael Bender said the warrant allowed “an unbridled search” that “contravenes basic freedoms guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.”
Justice Nancy Rice dissented, with Justice Allison Eid joining her. “Because I would hold that the police officers acted in good faith when they seized the tax records,” Rice wrote, “I find it unnecessary to consider whether the affidavit supporting the warrant failed to establish probable cause.”
Justice Nathan Coats went even further in dissent, not only finding the officers acted in good faith during the search, but also finding the search conformed to the Fourth Amendment.
The high court heard this case the same day it heard arguments in Cerrillo v. Buck, a civil case involving similar facts. In that case, Weld County DA Ken Buck sought to overturn the trial court injunction barring his office from using seized tax records in prosecuting hundreds of other cases.
