There’s still a void in the Adams County district attorney’s office.
The Aug. 27 killing of prosecutor Sean May has left his co-workers struggling to understand why, said Don Quick, the Adams County district attorney. May, 37, was shot to death in the yard of his northwest Denver home.
“We’re not ready to let go of Sean May yet,” Quick said.
He said the office this Friday will celebrate “International Talk Like a Pirate Day,” the offbeat, quirky holiday that May remembered each year.
Over the lunch hour, co- workers will hold a contest to see who can utter the most believable “Aye, matey.”
Denver police say that more than two weeks after the slaying, they still don’t know whether May was targeted for his work as a prosecutor.
“At this point, we still don’t why he was killed or who did it,” said Denver police Division Chief Dave Fisher. He encouraged anybody with information to call police at 720-913- 2000 or to report anonymously to the Crime Stoppers tip line at 720-913-7867.
“The fact someone may have been killed for their professional life is not something we deal with every day,” Fisher said. “So we’re analyzing everything.”
May left behind a wife, Corin, who formerly worked as a prosecutor in the office as well. She is six months pregnant with their first child.
Going with his heart
Former Adams County District Attorney Bob Grant hired May for an entry-level job in the office in 2001. The applicant had studied at some of the best schools, with an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. He had been working at a prestigious law firm in Denver with a salary in excess of $100,000 but opted to take a salary in the mid-$40,000s, Grant recalled.
“It was like, ‘What’s wrong with this guy. What’s the real reason he’s doing this?’ ” Grant said. “But Sean was one of those guys convinced that being a prosecutor and a trial lawyer was where his heart was, and there was never enough money to keep him from his dream.”
He started where most young lawyers do — in the county court division, working misdemeanor and DUI cases and domestic-violence crimes. Three years later, he moved into the felony division.
“He was a Boy Scout, the choir boy, the last guy that you would think would get into any difficulties,” Grant said.
Quick, who was elected district attorney in Adams County in 2004, promoted May to senior deputy, assigning him to one of the more stressful jobs — dealing with child victims. He promoted him this year to be his chief deputy for county court.
“He was just smart off the charts and had a real good heart,” Quick said. “When I hire prosecutors, it’s not critical that they know all the criminal law. The issue for me is are they in it for the right reasons, the character issue. Sean had a lot of character.”
Called to warn lawyer
Defense lawyer Douglas Romero is one of the last people to hear from May. On Aug. 27 at 5:44 p.m., Romero got a call from May to his cellphone. The two had been on opposite sides of a case involving a man accused of spying on an 11- year-old girl in the changing room of a store. Romero represented the defendant. May supervised the prosecution.
May called to warn Romero that a relative of the girl had been unhappy a jury had found the defendant guilty of the lesser charge of harassment. The relative had made some threats.
At 6:20, May arrived home. There, the gunman killed him and then fled.
“He was excellent,” Romero said of May. “He was really almost too nice to be a prosecutor to tell the truth. But if he felt he had to go down to the count on a case, he would stick to his guns.”
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
