Prosecutors can seek the death penalty for Robert Ray if he is convicted of murdering a witness and his fiancée almost two years ago.
The Arapahoe County district attorney’s office made a clerical error in January, when it filed two notices that it was seeking the death penalty against Ray’s alleged accomplice, Sir Mario Owens.
One of those notices should have had Ray’s name on it, according to the district attorney. Because Ray’s name wasn’t on either notice, Ray’s defense lawyer contended that the district attorney missed the deadline to file for the death penalty.
But a district court judge ruled Friday that District Attorney Carol Chambers can proceed with seeking the death penalty if Ray and Owens are convicted of murder.
Owens, Ray and another man, Parish Carter, have been charged in the deaths of Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe. Marshall-Fields was set to testify against Ray when he was shot and killed along with Fields while the couple drove along an Aurora street in June 2005.
DENVER
Water-line break closes intersection
The intersection of South Dahlia Street and East Evans Avenue was shut down Saturday after a 12-inch water main burst nearby, flooding the basement of one home and leaving some houses without water for at least eight hours.
The area affected included a six-block span near the break at 1810 S. Dahlia St., closing the busy intersection until about midday, when water to the main was shut off, a spokesman for the Denver Fire Department said.
Denver Water officials said only three houses would be without water until the main was repaired late Saturday. They had no information about the cause of the break.
LARIMER COUNTY
Man, 42, dies after crashing motorcycle
A 42-year-old man suspected of being intoxicated was killed when he crashed his motorcycle into a tree on a private road in Larimer County, state police said.
Isa M. Gonzalez of Drake was riding a yellow 1982 Yamaha motorcycle north on Waltonia Road about 4 p.m. Friday when he lost control on a left curve while going downhill and flew off and struck the tree.
A doctor pronounced Gonzalez dead at the scene, said Gilbert Mares, spokesman for the Colorado State Patrol.
COMMERCE CITY
Roads shut after man threatens to jump
Police closed parts of U.S. 85, Colorado 2 and surrounding roads and railroad lines for two hours Saturday afternoon when a man threatened to jump from a Burlington Northern railroad overpass.
At 4 p.m., after about two hours of negotiating, police grabbed the 25-year-old as he attempted to jump.
The roadways reopened shortly after the man was taken into protective custody and transferred to a hospital for evaluation.
Commerce City police Sgt. Joe Sandoval said the man has a history of mental illness.
DENVER
United jet bridge malfunctions at DIA
United Airlines officials said one of the company’s new jet bridges malfunctioned and struck the wing of a United 757 at Denver International Airport on Friday as it was positioning to unload the plane about noon.
None of the 176 passengers and eight crew members of United Flight 965, which had arrived from Boston, was injured, United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.
In September, United said it was leading the airline industry in introducing fully automated dual-end jet bridges at DIA, which allow the boarding and deplaning of passengers from front and rear doors simultaneously.
The bridges are computer-guided and driven, and use a combination of artificial vision and sensors to locate the plane’s doors and drive the front and rear bridges to their docking positions, according to information United released last year.
The unit’s rear bridge is supposed to travel over the wing to dock with the plane’s rear door.
GLENWOOD SPRINGS
I-70 tunnel crack forces vehicle detour
The Colorado Department of Transportation is closing the eastbound bore of the Hanging Lake Tunnels along Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon because of a 70-foot- long crack in the structure.
The 4,000-foot-long tunnels were completed in 1992 and a crack developed after rocks and other debris fell on the fill that was put above the structures and the control center between the bores, CDOT said.
Traffic through the area will use the westbound bore, with one lane in each direction.
Engineers have been monitoring the crack for the past year and noticed Friday that it had expanded to a point where CDOT could no longer allow vehicles in the tunnel, the agency said. Officials did not know how long the repair would take or how much it will cost. They said the westbound tunnel is safe for travel.
DENVER
RockiesRide offers express service
RTD will offer RockiesRide express bus service to select Colorado Rockies home games, including Monday’s opening day and all weekend games.
For $3 each way, the Regional Transportation District will operate direct bus service to Coors Field from key transit centers, including Table Mesa, 36th and McCaslin, Broomfield, Westminster Center, Roosevelt Park and Longmont Terminal, Wagon Road, Thornton, Olde Town Arvada, Cold Spring, Wadsworth/ Hampden, Nine Mile and Southmoor park-n-Rides.
RTD reminds fans that light rail can transport them to Union Station and other downtown locations.
