A Pitkin County grand jury has indicted three people in connection to the carbon monoxide poisoning deaths of a Denver family of four over the Thanksgiving holidays in 2008, the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent writes.

Glenwood Springs resident Marlin Brown and Erik Peltonen were both indicted on four class-five felony charges of criminally negligent homicide, Assistant Deputy District Attorney Arnold Mordkin said Sunday. Both were served with arrest warrants Friday, and were released on personal recognizance bonds of $11,000 each, Mordkin said.

Qwest and former chief executive Joe Nacchio are still trying to hammer out differences over the repayment of legal fees the company advanced on his behalf before his insider-trading conviction in April 2007, reports Andy Vuong from the Denver Post.

The Denver-based communications company’s bylaws require it to advance legal fees to current and former executives involved in any criminal or civil litigation stemming from their employment. According to estimates from legal experts, Nacchio’s defense in civil and criminal cases may be as high as $75 million.

From the DP article:

The Denver-based company, though, has recovered the legal fees it paid for Nacchio between the conviction and sentencing in July 2007 and any money doled out to his trial attorney, Herb Stern, for the appeal.

Nacchio footed the bill for Maureen Mahoney of Latham & Watkins, the lead attorney on his appeal, as part of an agreement he reached with Qwest shortly after his original sentencing. He has covered fees related to his resentencing, which was handled by Sean Berkowitz, also with Latham & Watkins.

LAW WEEK COLORADO

BOULDER – After 25 years of prosecuting criminals, ex-Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy is now defending them.

Lacy just finished up her first year as a private practice attorney at Lacy & Maguire, which she started with her former assistant district attorney Peter Maguire. The duo specializes in criminal defense and elder law.

“I have an inside view as to what the prosecutors do in a particular case,” she said. “I know how cases are analyzed as far as the evidence and background of the person who’s charged. I know the goals of the prosecutor to keep the person from offending and combining accountability with treatment, which helps me treat people efficiently and help them get through the system.”

While prosecutor, Lacy made national headlines when she publicly exonerated Jon Benet Ramsey’s family in the six year-old Ramsey’s 1996 murder. In addition to her title as Boulder DA for 25 years, which ended in early 2009 because of term limits, Lacy was also a trust officer. She started the law firm in order to have a more flexible schedule for her five children and three grandchildren.

“I’m enjoying it and I enjoy working with Pete,” she said.

LAW WEEK COLORADO

Douglas Edward James was sentenced to 110 months in prison (just over nine years ) for three armed bank robberies—two in Grand Junction and one in Las Vegas, Nevada.

James was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Phillip Brimmer, who ordered him to serve five years on supervised release as well. James is also required to pay restitution to victim banks totaling $27,641.00. The defendant appeared at the sentencing hearing in custody, and was immediately remanded following the conclusion of that hearing.

James, 25, was was indicted by a federal grand jury last November and pled guilty before Judge Brimmer on Feb. 19.

James robbed a Wells Fargo branch bank in Grand Junction, where he took nearly $15,000. On Aug. 19, 2009, James robbed a Nevada State Bank in Las Vegas. He stole $6,637 during that robbery. He then returned to Colorado and robbed the First National Bank of the Rockies, again in Grand Junction where he stole over $6,000.

Elinor Dvir

Opening statements were made Thursday for a murder-for-hire trial of a Denver woman accused of arranging the murder of her ex-husband, a deputy district attorney in Pitkin County, the Associated Press reports.

Jefferson County prosecutors say Elinor Dvir is guilty of entrapment when she “crossed the line between venting frustrations and committing a crime when she told an undercover investigator exactly what she wanted done to her husband.” She is accused of placing a hit on her husband in a desperate custody battle for her children.

This is Dvir’s second trial on solicitation of first-degree murder and other counts. Her first trial in March ended in a hung jury.

A woman accused of lying about the death of a dog that her brother was accused of killing in Colorado National Monument plans to change her plea, as reported by 7 News.
Melissa Lockhart, 32, of Fruita had pleaded not guilty to the federal charge, but documents in U.S. District Court indicate a change-of-plea hearing has been set for May 28.

She’s also pleaded not guilty to state charges alleging she stole two dogs, including one named Buddy, from a truck in Delta on Dec. 29. Buddy was the dog who was killed after Lockhart allegedly told her brother to “get rid of it” after it had killed a cat. Romero pleaded guilty last month to aggravated animal cruelty, for dragging the dog to its death.

Twenty motions have been filed for the re-trial of a Pitkin County man was charged with sexual assault and kidnapping from an incident in January 2009, reports Carolyn Sackariason of the Aspen Daily News.

Capt. Carl Bjork, an Army officer from Colorado accused of murdering two Iraqi civilians four years ago has been convicted of lesser charges, but will spend no time in prison, as reported by the Denver Post.

Bjork’s punishment, apparently, was being reprimanded by the Army and a decrease to his salary. His father, Peter Bjork, a Denver lawyer with Bjork Lindley Little, went to Iraq to attend the trial and speak on behalf of his son at the sentencing hearing.

The panel also “heard from a number of Carl’s subordinates, and an equal number of his superiors, including some majors and colonels,” he wrote.

Denver Post staffer Felisa Cardona filed real-time updates from Denver District Court where Judge Christina M. Habas is expected to sentence Willie D. Clark to life in prison for the murder of Denver Broncos player Darrent Williams.

Habas sentenced Clark to life without parole plus for Williams’ murder and an additional 1,152 years in prison for the 16 attempted murder charges and sentencing enhancements for his habitual criminal history.

“Mr. Clark I will simply say from where I sit, barring a retrial of this issue, you are spending your life in prison and you too can be a good person and make a change and make a difference with your life however it turns out,” The Post quoted Habas as saying.

Former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio is on his way to Denver under a federal escort and will appear in custody at a court hearing Tuesday, The Denver Post reports.

Nacchio, serving a six-year prison term at a federal prison camp in Pennsylvania for criminal insider trading, has been taken to a federal transfer center in Oklahoma City, according to the Bureau of Prisons website.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger has set a hearing for Tuesday to determine whether Nacchio wants to waive all future court appearances, including his resentencing in June.