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 the Chaffee County 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.
Dan Mason and Gallegos said Nancy 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.”
“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,” LeDoux said Saturday.
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.
“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.
Also, LeDoux wrote, 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.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
