Las Animas DA dismissing cases in protest against underfunding
In an effort to get more funding, the Las Animas County District Attorney’s Office is purposefully dismissing cases. So far, eleven have been dismissed, and more could very well come.
Not all of the cases are being dropped, but some of the cases being tossed are felonies like possession of a controlled substance, domestic violence, and even attempted manslaughter.
“I’m forced to do what I don’t want to do and that’s dismissing cases,” said Las Animas District Attorney Henry Solano.
He says cases are being dropped because the county isn’t giving his office the funds owed to them. He claims they are already understaffed as things currently stand.
Without the proper staff, Solano says certain suspected criminals will not see their day in court.
“We believe they committed a crime and we would have to prove that they did,” says Solano. “But because we don’t have the resources to invest in making that case at trial, we have to dismiss.”
Solano says the office has been underfunded for at least 30 years, and other DAs have run into funding problems in the past.
Last November, Las Animas County voted to increase their sales tax to better fund the DA.
So far their office has received a little under $500,000 for the annual budget — a big jump from last year’s budget of under $200,000.
However, Solano says his office is owed more because the revenue made from the sales tax increase, championed by Solano, did better than expected.
Solano says more dismissals will come if the county doesn’t consider his own proposed budget of more than $600,000.
“For county court cases which are misdemeanors and traffic offenses, we’ll probably be dismissing over a hundred cases,” said Solano.
In a statement, the Las Animas County Sheriff’s Office says it can’t help which cases are prosecuted, but they will continue to do their duty.
The county commissioners declined to comment on our story
Friday, Solano and the DA’s office sent a letter to the three county commissioners saying he will not sit down to discuss a resolution until his proposed budget is considered for an agenda item.
