State judicial officials have dismissed an ethics complaint against Jefferson County’s district attorney over his handling of the case against a former Denver judge and city attorney.
The complaint accused District Attorney Scott Storey of being overzealous in his prosecution of Larry Manzanares, who was charged with three felony charges in connection with a stolen laptop that was traced to his house. Manzanares, a former judge who resigned as Denver’s city attorney after the allegations emerged, committed suicide on June 22, hours after being advised of the charges against him in court.
In a letter dated Monday, state assistant regulation counsel Louise Culberson-Smith wrote to the complainant: “We have concluded that the situation you have reported does not present sufficient evidence to support disciplinary charges against Mr. Storey.”
The complaint was dismissed before Storey’s deadline to file a reply. Culberson-Smith said she and several other attorneys reached the decision after reviewing court records and a video of a news conference Storey gave on the case.
Today, Storey said he is relieved at the decision.
“I’m just glad it’s behind me,” he said. “I feel good that they reached the result that they did, and I’m moving on.”
The attorney who filed the complaint has not been publicly identified, and Storey declined to name the attorney today. Manzanares’ attorney, Gary Lozow, who has previously said he did not file the complaint, could not be reached for comment.
Critics of Storey’s handling of the Manzanares case focused on Storey’s decision to call a news conference to announce the charges and on the release of an 80-page affidavit that reported “sexually explicit” content had been discovered on the pilfered laptop. That information was widely reported and examined in the local news media, something that many close to Manzanares feel unfairly smeared and humiliated him.
But in her letter, Culberson-Smith said Storey’s statements on the matter were within his professional discretion.
“We cannot prosecute Mr. Storey for what the media chose to focus on,” she wrote.
Though Manzanares lived and worked in Denver, Storey was asked to handle the case to eliminate the Denver District Attorney’s office’s potential conflict of interest.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
