Jury convicts man on four murder counts
Fort Collins – After less than a day of deliberation, a jury in Fort Collins on Thursday found the defendant in Larimer County’s first first-degree murder trial in six years guilty of four counts of murder.
Edward J. Platzer, 41, faced six counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Robert Hill, 54, and John Miller, 46, in February 2004. The two-week trial included graphic testimony from 80 witnesses and stories of cocaine dealing, methamphetamine addiction and videotaped sex.
Members of the victims’ families held hands and cried in the packed courtroom as they listened to the reading of the verdict. Jurors convicted Platzer of four counts of murder committed during the commission of felony robbery and burglary and one lesser charge of accessory to a crime. They found him not guilty of two counts of murder showing deliberation.
Platzer’s convictions mandate four life sentences without parole. The judge set a sentencing hearing for Sept. 8. Platzer will be held without bail.
Victim John Miller’s mother, Twila Miller, 70, said she was glad the ordeal was over.
“You have six children, and one of them is taken away. There’s a hole,” she said.
Rolland Miller, John’s father, put a hand on his wife’s shoulder and pushed her in a wheelchair away from the courtroom.
“We have empathy,” the father said. “There’s no joy in having anyone sentenced to life. We’re just glad he’s out of circulation.”
The case against Platzer was aided by testimony from Mark J. Walker, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Walker, the prosecution argued, believed Hill was having an affair with his wife and accompanied Platzer to Hill’s house the day of the murders.
Prosecuting attorneys said Platzer went to Hill’s house, kicked in the bedroom door and shot and beat Hill. Miller, who arrived at Hill’s house soon after, was punched and shot by Platzer, they said.
Platzer’s defense team unsuccessfully argued that Walker was the real killer and that he pinned the murders on Platzer. Defense attorneys declined to comment on the guilty verdict.
DIA to lose 90 security screeners
Transportation Security Administration officials at Denver International Airport said a congressional mandate will force them to reduce the number of security screeners at DIA to about 710 from the current 800.
The reductions are expected to occur over the next six to 12 months and should be accomplished through attrition, not terminations of employees, said TSA spokeswoman Carrie Harmon. To help meet the goal, some current screeners at DIA may be asked to switch from full-time to part-time work, Harmon said.
Congress has capped the number of screeners nationwide at 45,000, she added.
Fill-in U.S. attorney gets job extension
The tenure of William Leone, who has been serving as temporary U.S. attorney for Colorado, on Thursday was extended by 120 days. The U.S. Justice Department in December chose Leone to fill in for 210 days, a term spelled out in federal law.
Leone took the place of his departing boss, John Suthers, who became Colorado’s attorney general. A permanent replacement will be nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
$4 million Lotto jackpot has 1 winner
One ticket matched all six numbers to win the midweek Lotto jackpot worth $4 million, Colorado Lottery officials said.
The winning numbers drawn Wednesday were 8, 15, 18, 19, 22 and 38.
There was no immediate word regarding where the winning ticket was purchased.
Lottery officials said 16 people matched five numbers to win $477 each, while 597 people matched four numbers to win $47 each.
Another 10,169 tickets matched three of the six numbers to win $3 apiece.
Lost, forgotten items returned to 19,000
The state has returned $10.1 million in lost or forgotten property to a record 19,000 people, acting state Treasurer Mark Hillman said Thursday.
Hillman said about 400 additional businesses turned over property this year worth $46 million after the state began educating businesses on compliance with the program. Hillman said there were 25 claims larger than $30,000 each and two claims larger than $170,000 each.
Hillman said the state currently holds about $260 million worth of unclaimed property belonging to more than 1.5 million owners.
The Great Colorado Payback was established to hold lost and forgotten property turned over to the state by financial institutions, insurance companies and other businesses until the rightful owners could claim it. The property includes cash, stocks, bonds, items left to someone in a will or left in a safe deposit box.
The Payback website is: www.treasurer.state.co.us/payback/.
Ex-teacher won’t get new sex-assault trial
A former Denver Public Schools teacher serving 52 years in prison for sexually assaulting two brothers has lost his bid for a new trial.
Paul Lopez was convicted in September 2002 of abusing the boys for more than two years, beginning in 1991. The abuse occurred at his home, where they sometimes spent the night, at a summer camp in Conifer and on out-of-town field trips.
Lopez was convicted of two counts each of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and sexual assault on a child as part of a pattern of abuse.
He appealed the convictions on several issues, arguing that evidence of other alleged crimes was improperly allowed, that other witnesses were improperly allowed to vouch for the credibility of the victims and that he received a lengthy sentence based largely on his repeated assertions of innocence.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected each argument.
