DA reverses course on deputy quitting

In a reversal of a previous decision, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann announced Monday that Assistant District Attorney Ryan Brackley will resign from the DA’s office following allegations he bullied other staffers and intimidated a prosecutor with a baseball bat.

The decision was made after further consideration of Brackley’s actions that were outlined in an independent investigation, the DA’s office said in a news release issued Monday morning. McCann also said she could not allow the issue — which became public last week — to be a distraction from the work of the DA’s office.

McCann, in the news release, thanked Buckley for his talent and commitment.

In an email she sent to her staff on Sunday announcing Brackley’s resignation, McCann said the decision was very difficult, and that his departure will be a loss to the office.

“Today, Ryan and I agreed that it is in the best interest of the office moving forward that he resign,” McCann wrote in the email, provided to The Denver Post by the DA’s office. “... I cannot condone nor allow the type of behavior about which I have learned through this investigation and from speaking to some of you outside this investigation.” An outside firm conducted an investigation into Brackley, the second in command in the Denver DA’s office, in response to claims that he acted as a bully and abused his position of power, especially in his treatment of female colleagues.

One prosecutor said Brackley threatened in a group text to fire her “(expletive) fat ass” if she posted crime scene photos on Facebook, an allegation he admitted to. Another longtime prosecutor said Brackley halfswung a wooden baseball bat toward her head multiple times while he confronted her about an email she sent that angered him. The outside investigator, Michele Sturgell, found evidence to support the claims.

In a July 19 letter obtained by The Denver Post, McCann reprimanded Brackley for his actions but said that she would not ask for his resignation.

“I make this decision because I believe that you are and have been a valuable member of the office, that you can continue to bring value to this office and because I am confident that you can and will change your behavior,” she said in the July 19 letter.

She ordered Brackley to take classes from the Employers Council, to remove any baseball bats from his office and to participate in mediation with the employees whom he offended, if they agreed to do so. She also wrote that she planned to “restructure” some of his responsibilities, but had not yet decided how to do so.

After attempting to restructure job responsibilities it became clear that Brackley’s resignation was the best solution, the DA’s office said in Monday’s news release.

In a statement, Brackley said that he decided to leave the DA’s office with regret, and thanked McCann for speaking so highly of him.

“In order for the office to achieve DA McCann’s goals of enhancing public safety and achieving meaningful criminal justice reform, I think it is best for me to move on,” he said.

Brackley previously worked as the assistant district attorney in the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office before moving to the Denver office in January 2017 after McCann was elected to her position. His last day of work int he Denver office will be Friday.

Helen Morgan, Chief Deputy of the Behavioral Health Unit, will take over Brackley’s duties on an interim basis beginning this week.