Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler leaves court after a hearing involving Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
Another sign that Democrats view Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler as an up-and-coming threat: The liberal group ProgressNow Colorado ripped him Wednesday over a problematic tweet he sent during a trial.
Brauchler’s name was mentioned Tuesday in a story in The Denver Post might take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet next year now that Congressman Mike Coffman has said he won’t jump in the race.
Republican strategist Josh Penry defended Brauchler and fired back at ProgressNow.
“When a governor commutes a death sentence, liberals cartwheel. When a prosecutor tweets about a death penalty trial, they’re outraged — just outraged,” he said. “ProgressNow would smear their board chairman’s grandmother if they thought for a second she was going to run against Michael Bennet.”
Said Amy Runyon-Harms, executive director of the group, said if Pentry “wants to speculate how ProgressNow Colorado will respond to situations, tell him we always just ask ourselves what Cicero would do.”
Zing!
It was Penry who said in the Post story that Bennet was beatable and Republicans had contenders who could take him out.
“We don’t need to nominate . This is not a longshot or a Hail Mary,” Penry said.
Arapahoe County District Attorney speaks outside the Capitol in Denver in 2013 after Gov. John Hickenlooper granted death row inmate Nathan Dunlap an indefinite reprieve. (Photo By Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post)
Brauchler came to prominence in 2013 after blasting Gov. John Hickenlooper for granting to a death row inmate Nathan Dunlap. The following year, fellow Republicans in his 2014 re-election, but Brauchler passed because his office was prosecuting Aurora theater shooting gunman James Holmes, whose trial is now underway.
ProgressNow — and, privately, some Republicans — have jumped on the mistake Brauchler made last week when he although the judge had been clear not to do so. in connection with news stories regarding the judge’s admonishment about the tweet.
James Holmes, left, and defense attorney Tamara Brady are depicted in this coutroom drawing on Jan. 20, the first day of jury selection in Holmes’ trial, at the Arapahoe County Justice Center, in Centennial. (AP Photo/Jeff Kandyba)
ProgressNow Colorado in its release said Brauchler needed to apologize for “putting justice for the victims of the Aurora shooting in jeopardy to boost his political standing.”
“District Attorney George Brauchler’s political ambitions are well known, and he never misses an opportunity to promote himself,” Runyon-Harms said. “Unfortunately, Brauchler’s irresponsible Tweets from the courtroom have now resulted in the dismissal of jurors who were tainted by his actions.”
The leftie blog ColoradoPols . The Post reported that a juror’s husband called the woman during a break last week and began telling her about his tweet, which had been reported on by various media outlets. Jurors had been instructed not to read anything about the trial or talk to each other about it.
“That idiotap tweeting,” she quoted her husband as saying.
Runyon-Harms said “there’s an open question as to whether the quote, ‘That idiotap tweeting,’ will follow Brauchler around for a while.”
The tweet came as the defense cross-examined a key mental health expert, Dr. William Reid. Earlier the jury watched 22 hours of Holmes has admitted he killed 12 and injured more than 70 people outside the theater, but he has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
“I agree on the video,” Brauchler’s tweet read. “I hope the jury thinks so, too.”
Brauchler said he sent the tweet by mistake when meaning to respond to a text message and he quickly deleted it. He apologized to the judge and the defense attorney who was questioning Reid at the time of the message.
“It’s an embarrassing mistake, but one I think I corrected quickly,” he said.
