The collapse of a murder case against a man accused of providing the gun used to kill a popular hot-dog vendor has left his widow in tears.
On Tuesday, just before the trial was to start, Denver prosecutors dropped the case against Deangelo Calaway in the shooting death of Quincy Henderson because of concerns about a witness’ testimony.
“He slipped through the law of the land, but there is one higher judge he will not slip through,” said Mariasol Gonzales, Henderson’s widow.
Henderson, also known as the “hot-dog dude,” was shot to death after he got into a fistfight in Curtis Park on Sept. 9, 2008, with Charles Ford, who was a longtime rival.
Calaway, 20, was charged with first-degree murder for allegedly giving the gun to Ford.
But prosecutors had trouble with a witness who was going to testify he saw Calaway hand Ford the gun.
The witness violated parole and was not sent to prison, which could make it appear to a jury that he was testifying against Calaway in exchange for favors, Gonzales said.
Calaway’s lawyer, Scott Jurdem, said his client has always maintained he did not give Ford the gun.
“I think we all have to have a real question about witnesses who have something to gain from their testimony such as leniency by the prosecution,” Jurdem said.
Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver District Attorney, said moving for a dismissal of the case was a “tough decision to make.”
“In part because of a court ruling on Friday and additional information and evaluation over the weekend, prosecutors in our office no longer felt we could prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury,” she said last week.
Henderson, a 35-year-old father of eight children, worked a hot-dog cart on 28th Street and Glenarm Place, often employing local kids to clean around his cart and giving homeless people free food.
He began dating Gonzales when the two were about 15 years old, she said.
Henderson and Ford had a running dispute that started at a basketball court two years ago and involved shoving, drinking and fighting.
In that incident, Gonzales said, Ford split her husband’s head open in front of two of their children at a basketball court.
The day of the shooting, Henderson and Ford fought in the park, and then Henderson offered his hand in truce, but Ford wouldn’t shake it, Gonzales said.
Ford returned with a gun and shot Henderson twice in the back and once through the heart.
Ford, 30, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and faces 35 to 60 years in prison at his upcoming sentencing.
Calaway will be sentenced to 10 years in prison on an unrelated first-degree-arson charge.
In that case, Calaway and several other suspected gang members were charged with burning down the Holly Square shopping center in Denver in retaliation for the murder of a prominent gang leader.
The fire burned six businesses and leveled the shopping center. The damage was more than $2 million.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
