This article was original published in The Denver Post on January 24, 2008.
The following correction ran on this article. An attorney for Cory Voorhis said in federal court Wednesday that employees of the Denver district attorney’s office committed no offense when they accessed the National Crime Information Computer for the same information his client had obtained, and therefore his client had done nothing wrong either. Because of an editing error, it incorrectly described the attorney’s argument.
Employees of the Denver district attorney’s office were ordered Wednesday to turn over notes and phone logs showing communication between their office and Bill Ritter’s gubernatorial campaign regarding the criminal record of an illegal immigrant.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge John L. Kane came after attorneys for federal immigration agent Cory Voorhis — charged with improperly accessing a national crime database — asked for the records because they believe the documents will show Voorhis is being singled out for prosecution for an offense also committed by others.
“The defendant is entitled to have this information, and I am granting the motion for this reason only,” Kane said.
Voorhis, who is on unpaid leave from Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending the outcome of the case, gave information about the criminal record of Walter Ramo to the Bob Beauprez campaign during the 2006 gubernatorial race.
The information was used in Beauprez’s political ads to show that Ritter had a record of making plea deals with illegal immigrants when he was DA.
Voorhis’ attorneys have argued that employees from the DA’s office also accessed the database and gave information about Ramo to the Ritter campaign and the media but were not prosecuted.
Henry Reeve, counsel for the district attorney’s office, argued that the records were sensitive law enforcement information that was accessed legitimately and that the three employees were not “similarly situated” to Voorhis.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
The following correction ran on this article. An attorney for Cory Voorhis said in federal court Wednesday that employees of the Denver district attorney’s office committed no offense when they accessed the National Crime Information Computer for the same information his client had obtained, and therefore his client had done nothing wrong either. Because of an editing error, it incorrectly described the attorney’s argument.
