Federal prosecutors say Brian Kenneth Hicks, the purported leader of a Denver street gang, was prematurely arrested by local police while the feds were in the midst of a large-scale gang takedown.
Hicks is charged in a federal crack-cocaine conspiracy case involving the Rolling 30s Crips, but he is also a suspect in Denver in an attempted homicide of a witness, Kalonniann Clark.
Two other members of the gang are named in court documents and by police sources as suspects in the Jan. 1 shooting death of Denver Bronco Darrent Williams. No one has been charged in Williams’ death.
On Nov. 9, 2006, Hicks was arrested by Denver police and charged with possessing cocaine. During that arrest, federal officers who were tailing Hicks aired over the police radio to let Hicks go because the investigation was still open.
“Revealing the existence of the federal investigation and the investigative tools being used at that point just to prosecute a small cadre of defendants was thought to be inopportune and inappropriate since the result would be prematurely ending an important and substantial law-enforcement initiative,” federal prosecutors wrote in court records filed Tuesday.
Denver police recognized Hicks as a person with a pending attempted-murder charge who was out on bond and arrested him on drug charges.
Even though the Denver district attorney’s office pursued the cocaine case, U.S. Attorney Troy Eid refused to allow any of the federal officers to testify at Hicks’ preliminary hearing in Denver District Court because of a need to protect the federal investigation, the court records say.
The state’s charges against Hicks were dropped.
Federal prosecutors detailed the dispute over Hicks’ arrest in court papers that were filed in response to a motion by Hicks’ lawyer asking for a dismissal of the federal charges.
Hicks’ lawyers had claimed that state officers had investigated Hicks, and the fruits of that investigation could not be transferred to federal jurisdiction.
Federal prosecutors responded that “all the wiretaps and other investigative tools used to gather the evidence now sought to be suppressed by Hicks were obtained in the federal court for the federal investigation.”
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
