Pueblo DA sued by Sheriff’s deputy for “unlawful dissemination” of credibility letter
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — In a civil lawsuit filed in Pueblo County on November 8, a current Pueblo County Sheriff's patrol deputy is suing 10th Judicial District Attorney Jeff Chostner for disseminating letters informing judges and defense attorneys of potential untruthfulness issues.
Michael Freeman, attorney for Deputy David Morey, alleges in the lawsuit that Chostner "unilaterally generate and disseminated a 'credibility notification letter," regarding Deputy Morey not showing up when he was ordered to testify in a DUI case in July 2021.
The credibility notification letter, or Brady Letter, includes all known issues of police misconduct, do not call status, decertification, public complaints, use-of-force reports, and citizen reports.
However, the lawsuit describes Morey not showing up in court as the product of a "miscommunication" between a prosecutor under Chostner and himself.
The lawsuit alleges Morey and two other deputies were under the impression the court date would be "continued." However, when Judge Steven Fieldman called them to testify in the hearing Morey and the other deputies were absent.
At that time, Fieldman threatened to issue a bench warrant for Morey to testify. The prosecutor reached out to Morey to ask about his whereabouts. According to an internal affairs investigation by the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office, Morey told the prosecutor he was on family leave and "was in New York." However, the prosecutor heard Morey state, "I am in New York."
When Morey appeared in the courtroom 30 minutes after the phone call, the prosecutor believed that Morey was untruthful with him based on his perception of their prior conversation.
Due to this, the lawsuit alleges that the District Attorney's Office has "refused to go forward on any pending criminal case in which Morey is a necessary witness, instead either plea bargaining or dismissing the case, or requesting another deputy to act as a witness."
Freeman told 13 Investigates the dissemination of the Brady letters has hurt Morey's patrol deputy status at PCSO.
"We've asked them numerous times to stop sending out this letter because it essentially blackballed my client from being able to testify," Freeman said. "These patrol deputies are not much use to the Pueblo County Sheriff's Department if you can't testify in court."
At the conclusion of the IA investigation, an inspector states, "It does not appear Deputy David Morey knowingly made an untruthful statement concerning a material fact, knowingly omitted a material fact in an official criminal justice record." The inspector confirmed that Morey was on family sick leave at the time of the hearing in July 2021.
"If this continues indefinitely without some sort of court intervention, he's probably going to get terminated," Freeman said. "We want a legal declaration from the judge that there is no legal basis for this officer credibility notification letter and that the D.A. has to stop sending it out on the cases."
Freeman claims Chostner violated the law in two areas. First, by sending out the credibility letters without informing him first. Second, by not ceasing to send them after Morey was cleared by the IA investigation.
Chostner told 13 Investigates he could not comment on any pending litigation. However, Pueblo County Attorney Cynthia Mitchell is representing Chostner in the lawsuit. She filed an "answer" document in court on December 21.
In that filing, Mitchell states Chostner "denies any and all allegations." However, the answer admits that the letters have been disseminated but "denies that the letter contains language containing language notifying them of 'serious' credibility issues.
Freeman said a law enforcement officer suing a sitting district attorney is "unprecedented," and added that this legal recourse was a "last resort."
"We don't we don't want to be in the position where he's suing his county and in essence, really doesn't have a choice if he wants to save his job," Freeman said.
