Judge rules against city of Pueblo, clears sentences of three jailed on contempt of court

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – A Pueblo County judge recently sided with the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (ACLU) to release three individuals who were "illegally imprisoned" in the Pueblo County Jail.

On Nov. 1, a district court judge determined that the city of Pueblo violated basic constitutional requirements in convicting residents by failing to provide them with charging documents that would've allowed them to prepare a defense, according to the ACLU.

Dean Lopez, Lyrcis Martinez and Michael Tafoya were all unlawfully jailed for missing court dates in Pueblo under a “contempt of court” municipal ordinance that Pueblo created in 2017.

The ordinance subjects people to up to 364 days in jail, even when the alleged offense that brought a person to court carries no jail time.

"In the vast majority of Colorado municipal and state courts, a missed court date results in a warrant, not a new criminal charge. In Pueblo, however, when a person missed a court date, non-jailable charges could balloon into sentences of months or even years," the ACLU wrote in a press release.

According to the ACLU, Martinez and Lopez served hundreds of days on the contempt charges – much more than on their original sentence for minor offenses. In Tafoya’s case, he served time solely for the unlawful contempt charge after missing court dates for low-level offenses. 

“Pueblo’s actions here violate fundamental constitutional principles," said Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado Legal Director. "People accused of a crime must be provided with a charging document adequate to prepare a defense.  That never happened here. Using this municipal ordinance to sentence people to long jail sentences for missing a court date is unjust and must stop."

On Nov. 1, the judge found that the city of Pueblo had failed to issue charging documents that would have allowed the petitioners to prepare a defense and protected them against future charges for the same offenses.

Without those charging documents, the Municipal Court lacked jurisdiction over the cases, voiding the resulting convictions. The judge ordered that the three sentences be discharged immediately.

The Mayor of Pueblo Heather Graham took to Facebook to share her disagreement with the decision, sharing the below statement:

"I am saddened that in my city, a criminal who has broken the law more than 20 times receives more empathy than every day law abiding citizens of Pueblo who are plagued day in and day out by criminal acts all over our community. These criminal acts include trespassing, theft, loitering, unwanted party and more yet the criminals receive more favor and outreach from anti-jail advocates rather than acknowledging the reckless behavior affecting every area of Pueblo. Every day, citizens call the Mayor’s Office and ask what is being done to address crime or if we have a plan to assist with recidivism. Then when Municipal Court, the Pueblo Police Department or another arm of the City works within its powers to address these issues, we are met with criticism.

Today Judge Chostner ruled in the ACLU cases v. the City of Pueblo, that these criminals should be released on a technicality because they presumably did not receive a proper citation or notice for their contempt charges on a piece of paper. Yet, these individuals skipped court and failed to appear for years at a time, wasting City time, taxes and resources. When they finally did appear after being arrested again, they were given a verbal advisement, copies of their warrants and were represented by counsel. Then they waived their rights to trial and voluntarily plead to charges. None of that matter[s] though because they did not receive a piece of paper.

Now the ACLU has come to advocate for criminals who plague this City and expects to receive support for their advocacy. Instead, Puebloans should be asking why the ACLU would be complicit with criminal behavior? Why should criminals not be held accountable and be able to continue to reoffend in our city? Does the ACLU not realize that homelessness does not equate to helplessness. Now the greater Pueblo community is left helpless with opinions and rulings like what was given [Friday]."

- Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham