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Colorado Attorney General admits the state could do a better job at addressing violent crime

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- Friday, the Colorado Attorney General admitted to 13 Investigates that the state could be doing a better job at addressing violent crimes and criminals out on early release, specifically bond. This comes as violent crime data reveals Pueblo's homicide rate has more than doubled from 2020 to 2021.

Pueblo District Attorney Jeff Chostner shared with 13 Investigates data indicating more than two-thirds (70%) of the city's most violent criminal acts in 2021 were allegedly committed by a suspect out on some form of early release.

According to the DA's Office, those crimes include:

  • Homicides
  • Officer-involved shootings
  • Drive-by shootings

The DA's Office the form of early release considered includes:

  • Bond
  • Parole
  • Probation
  • Any other type of pre-trial release

"With the benefit of hindsight we know that some of these bond decisions, clearly were not in the interest of public safety," Weiser said. "How do we learn from that? How do we do better?"

Bonds are set and granted by judges. They follow are bond criteria that focuses on risk to the community, risk to a victim, if the person charged is given bond. Weiser says that analysis needs some work.

"We have a lot of work to do, and a critical challenge we have as a system in the criminal justice system is making determinations about who really presents a risk and why and how do we better address that risk. We have got to get better at understanding, focusing and addressing that risk," Weiser said.

Chostner told 13 Investigates 40 Pueblo County cases have been taken over by the U.S. District Attorney's office for the district of Colorado since he took office nine years ago. The man prosecuting those cases is U.S Attorney for district of Colorado, Cole Finegan.

"If you look at the statistics everywhere, it's alarming and certainly you can attribute it to drugs, you can attribute it to the remarkable number of guns that are getting into the hands of criminals," Finegan said.

The most recent case where Finegan's office decided to press federal charges is involving Leonard Cordova, a Pueblo man and previously convicted felon accused who was able to stay out of jail on multiple six-figure bonds. He was eventually arrested by the FBI on two weapons charges.

Cordova was accused of illegal discharge of a weapon and attempted murder. The weapons violations involving those two alleged crimes are now being prosecuted in federal court, where Cordova has not been granted release.

Additionally, data shows all categories of crime went up by 23% between 2020 to 2021.

In November 2021, Chostner and Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller addressed the Pueblo City Council about the rise in violence and its correlation to early release.

"You frequently hear how did that person get out on bond? How could that have taken place? I get asked that all the time and I say we tried to keep the person in jail. We did not want them out," said Chostner. "I don't even think the judge wanted to let them out, but they are restricted by a criteria that is given to them by the state legislature."

Chostner also pointed to the Misdemeanor Reform Act, which went into effect on March 1, 2022, for possibly contributing to the rise in crime. The Misdemeanor Reform Act decriminalizes certain categories of crime. The law reduced the categories of misdemeanor crimes from three to two.

The act has drawn significant criticism from some law enforcement, specifically related to how the legislation affects Possession of a Weapon by a Previous Offender (POWPO). The Pueblo Police Department has frequently spoken about allowing previous felons in possession of a weapon to be back on the streets of Pueblo.

"My officers are repeatedly arresting the same violent offender with weapons over and over and over again, at some point they are either going to shoot my officers or my officers are going to have to shoot them," Noeller said. "When that person is in jail when that person is in prison that's not going to happen."

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Sean Rice

Sean is reporter with the 13 Investigates team. Learn more about him here.

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