DURANGO, Colo.—A defense attorney in Durango has been indicted by a grand jury on suspicion of tampering with evidence in a murder investigation, touching off protests from other attorneys over their ability to protect the rights of defendants.
Brian Schowalter appeared in court Tuesday to be formally advised of the felony charge. He is accused of withholding a letter that was considered to be evidence in a homicide investigation involving Shanice Smith, a client who pleaded guilty to robbery and accessory to murder. Smith was sentenced in February to eight years in prison.
The court released a partial indictment Tuesday that contains little information about the facts of the case.
According to the indictment, Schowalter is suspected of refusing to turn over the evidence, making it unavailable for use in a criminal proceeding.
Schowalter declined comment, but his Denver defense lawyer, Mike Root, called the tampering charge “outrageous.”
“This appears to be an effort to interfere with a lawyer’s duty to his client and to prevent ethical but aggressive representation in criminal cases,” Root said.
District Attorney Todd Risberg declined to comment about the facts of the case other than to say Schowalter had evidence and refused to turn it over. The grand jury did an investigation to locate the evidence, the Durango Herald reported Wednesday ().
“He refused to tell us whether he had it, so we had to use a process to find the letter,” Risberg said.
Durango defense lawyer Tom Williamson, who attended Tuesday’s hearing, said in 28 years of criminal litigation, he has never seen a district attorney prosecute an attorney for alleged conduct that occurred during a case.
Williamson said if Risberg thought Schowalter did something wrong, he could have filed a grievance with the Colorado Attorney Regulation Committee.
Risbert said defense attorneys may not like it, but they’re not allowed to hide incriminating evidence.
A subpoena was filed to obtain the letter, but Schowalter refused to produce it and asserted his rights against self-incrimination, Risberg said.
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Information from: Durango Herald,
