Judge denies union request

He says there’s no need for a special prosecutor in open-records case

A Denver judge has denied a request from the Denver police union to appoint a special prosecutor in a case involving Chief Robert White and his second-in-command, Matt Murray, who had been accused of breaking the state’s open records law.

District Judge Robert L. McGahey Jr. determined District Attorney Beth McCann did not abuse her discretion in determining whether to pursue criminal charges against the two top cops for alleged violations of the Colorado Open Records Act, according to a copy of his order signed Wednesday morning.

The judge determined the district attorney likely would not be able to convict White and Murray because evidence shows they thought they did not have a copy of a letter the union had requested.

“A negligent or careless search for these documents is inadequate to succeed on the merits of a CORA violation charge,” McGahey wrote.

The Denver Police Protective Association had filed a motion asking for a special prosecutor, saying McCann had given the two chiefs special treatment when investigating allegations that they had knowingly violated open records laws when the union requested a May 2016 letter from a former district attorney who had been critical of Murray’s handling of an internal investigation.

McCann had determined the chiefs were careless in their handling of a request, but that they did not break the law. She also recommended the city’s Department of Public Safety review its process for fulfilling such requests.

At the time of the union’s request, a violation of the state’s open records laws was a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $100 and 90 days in the county jail. However, it no longer is a crime, following a recent change in state law.

The union twice had been denied a copy of the letter from former district attorney Mitch Morrissey that was critical of Murray’s handling of an internal investigation into an alleged sexual assault committed by a police officer and a woman who was his acquaintance.

Murray had told Mary Dulacki, the safety department’s records coordinator, “I have no records responsive to this request.” But during the DA’s investigation, Dulacki told prosecutors that Murray and White had been deceitful in their responses to whether the letter existed.

An independent investigation into the handling of the sexual assault investigation and the handling of the open records request was opened in May and has not been completed.