Chaffee County’s district attorney has asked a judge not to appoint a special prosecutor in the death of a Highlands Ranch woman, saying the facts don’t justify charges.
District Attorney Thom LeDoux filed a 42-page document Friday asking a Chaffee County judge to deny a request by Chaffee County’s sheriff and coroner to appoint a special prosecutor in the May 30, 2004 death of Nancy Mason, 47.
County Attorney Jennifer Davis filed a petition June 10 asking a judge to reinstate murder warrants against Nancy Mason’s husband, Dan, 53, and Efren Gallegos, 33, after LeDoux refused to charge them.
The petition, signed by Coroner Randy Amettis and Sheriff Tim Walker, said LeDoux disregarded findings of an inquest three weeks ago in which six jurors concluded Nancy Mason was murdered.
“I think it was important the situation was investigated,” LeDoux said Saturday. “But under the circumstances they weren’t able to show something bad did happen.”
Dan Mason and Gallegos said Nancy Mason fell into a fast-moving creek while fishing.
Davis argued that LeDoux’s decision not to file charges in the case was “unjustified, arbitrary and capricious.”
LeDoux said he knew that was not true.
“Once they filed an affidavit saying I hadn’t done my job and I was arbitrary and capricious, I had no choice but to go forward,” he said.
LeDoux disputed the petition’s assertion that he didn’t receive an 800-page transcript of the inquest until the day he declined to file charges. He said he got the transcript days earlier and cited many meetings with investigators.
To prove Nancy Mason was killed, LeDoux’s document said he would have to show that sheriff’s investigators and the coroner were unreasonable when they initially concluded Nancy Mason died of an accident. He also had to prove which of the suspects committed the murder.
“Not a single piece of evidence points to one or the other of the two suspects as the individual actually responsible for the alleged homicide,” LeDoux wrote.
His document said because Nancy Mason’s body was cremated and a forensic autopsy had not been performed, “no conclusions can be made about how Nancy Mason died.” The initial autopsy findings of an accident are consistent with Dan Mason’s and Gallegos’ stories, which have always been consistent, he said.
LeDoux detailed dozens of investigative and evidentiary flaws in the case, including failure to search Dan Mason’s vehicle for blood for eight months.
He said inquest witnesses were allowed to discuss rumors or give inaccurate disparaging descriptions of the suspects, including that Dan Mason was Gallegos’ pimp.
“The coroner’s inquest was completely devoid of any due process protections, basic evidentiary protections or a balanced presentation of the evidence,” LeDoux’s document says.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
