Denver police detectives turned over their personnel files to a judge Friday and she will spend the weekend deciding whether any disciplinary action in those files will have an impact on a trial involving the murder of a state witness.
Two of the detectives ordered to turn over the files, Jaime Castro and Joel Humphrey, investigated the death of Kalonniann Clark.
“I am not happy about having to read this much material but I believe I have to do it, especially in a case of this magnitude,” Judge Christina M. Habas said.
Stuart Shapiro, an assistant city attorney who objected to the release of the personnel files, said the discipline could be irrelevant to the Clark case and could be as insignificant as a traffic violation.
In Castro’s case, the administrative finding in his file goes back to 1990.
Clark was killed in December 2006 shortly before she was to testify against Brian Kenneth Hicks in an attempted murder case.
Prosecutors believe Hicks ordered her death from behind bars and that two of his associates, Willie D. Clark and Shun Birch, carried out the shooting.
Lawyers for the three defendants asked the judge to order the prosecution to subpoena the files.
The request came after the district attorney informed the lawyers the detectives were on a list turned over to their office from the Police Department’s civil liabilities bureau.
The defense attorneys want to know if the information in the files contains any actions that could be considered exculpatory, or freeing from blame, toward their clients.
Habas said she intends to read the files and will determine whether the information is relevant. She would then issue a public order indicating which detective’s file would be disclosed to the defense.
If the judge finds exculpatory information, she will issue a protective order over the files that means only the defense attorneys and their investigators may view them.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
