A man suspected of killing a 10-year-old boy in a drinking-and-driving collision in Westminster was three times over the legal alcohol limit, police said.
Joshua J. Beadle was charged Wednesday in Adams County District Court with vehicular homicide, criminal impersonation, driving under restraint and obstruction of a police officer.
He was driving with a suspended license, said Detective Joseph McArdle. Beadle is being held on $20,000 bail.
The U.S. Army has also put a hold on Beadle to prevent his release from jail, McArdle said. Beadle was charged with desertion Dec. 22.
Beadle is suspected of killing 10-year-old Cole Collins in a two-car wreck on Friday.
Additional local news briefs:
DENVER
Minister’s finances crooked, church rules
The Ecclesiastical Court of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado Wednesday found Rev. Don Armstrong of Grace Church and St. Stephen’s Parish in Colorado Springs guilty of stealing or misusing more than $600,000 in church funds.
Armstrong – who in March led a break away from the Episcopal Church by part of his congregation to join the conservative Anglican Diocese of Nigeria- denied through his attorney that the Colorado diocese still had jurisdiction over him.
“The decision is meaningless to us,” said Alan Crippen, spokesman for the break-away parishioners. “This verdict from the bishop’s kangaroo court was expected.”
We look forward to exonerating the name of our good rector in the near future as our own forensic audit of church books is released,” Crippen said.
Crippen said the Nigerian diocese’s report likely would be released in late August or early September.
The unanimous verdict by the five-member Ecclesiastical Court, which spokeswoman Beckett Stokes said functions independently of the bishop, marks the beginning of a 30-day period during which Armstrong and other parties can respond.
EVANS
Shelter contests fault found in kitten death
The Humane Society of Weld County has appealed a written warning handed down by state investigators who found that it failed to provide timely medical care to a kitten that died, shelter officials said Wednesday.
The head of a foster family claims the shelter in May handed them a diseased kitten and later refused to give the animal proper medical treatment.
Colorado Department of Agriculture investigators found the Humane Society at fault and issued a written warning. The warning doesn’t come with punitive measures, but the shelter opted to appeal the decision to Dr. Kate Anderson, head of the Bureau of Animal Protection and Pet Animal Care Facilities for the state, the Humane Society’s executive director, Elaine Hicks, said.
Hicks said it was the foster family that neglected to get the 3-week-old kitten timely care.
CASTLE ROCK
Dragging case awaits death-penalty option
Douglas County prosecutors must decide whether to seek the death penalty for Jose Luis Rubi-Nava before test results reveal whether he is mentally retarded.
Rubi-Nava, 37, confessed to killing his girlfriend, Maria Franco-Fierros, 49, by dragging her behind his car in north Douglas County in September.
His court-appointed defense team has asserted he is mentally retarded – meaning that under state and federal law, he would be ineligible for the death penalty.
Rubi-Nava has entered a not- guilty plea to the murder, despite his written confession to investigators when he was questioned last fall.
Douglas County Circuit Judge Paul King set an Oct. 26 hearing on the results of testing by the state mental hospital on whether Rubi-Nava is mentally retarded. In the same hearing Wednesday, King told prosecutors they have until Oct. 2 to determine whether to seek the death penalty.
Under Colorado law, District Attorney Carol Chambers has 60 days from last week’s arraignment to determine whether to seek the death penalty.
DENVER
Egg-as-person ballot item gets challenge
A proposed ballot measure that would define a fertilized egg as a person in Colorado’s constitution was called deceptive and dangerous by opponents, who filed a challenge to the measure Wednesday with the Colorado Supreme Court.
The proponents of the bill have made it clear that the purpose of measure is to stop abortion, said Lizzy Annison, public affairs director for Colorado and Wyoming Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.
“That the title in this measure does not tell voters that that is what they will be voting on is unacceptable,” she said.
ROCKY MTN. NATIONAL PARK
Hurt climber flown to hospital after rockfall
An injured climber was flown from Rocky Mountain National Park to Medical Center of the Rockies by Flight for Life on Wednesday evening after rescuers lowered the man 1,000 feet to a nearby trail.
Rescue efforts began at 1:25 p.m. for a 35-year-old climber from Boston who was injured during a rockfall at 11:40 a.m..
The fall took place in the Lumpy Ridge area of the park. The climber was in the gully between Batman Pinnacle and Batman Rock, said Kyle Patterson, a spokeswoman for the park.
The climber had to be lowered in a litter for 200 feet down a straight vertical drop. After that, he was transported through a combination of terrain, including loose rock and large boulders.
