The man accused of and injuring 14 others in the Pearl Street firebombing attack last June is being held in the Jefferson County Jail — not the Boulder County Jail, or any other holding facility, for that matter. As a federal inmate, that’s the closest jail at which U.S. Marshals are allowed to hold him.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman faces 118 state charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, dozens of counts of attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault, according to online court records. He also faces a , including nine hate crimes, in connection with the June 1 attack.
Those federal charges mean Soliman, 46, is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, according to Boulder County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Shannon Carbone. Marshals shepherd prisoners around the country and between holding facilities and their court dates.
When Soliman is brought to the Boulder County Justice Center for his case in state district court, the Marshals — with the help of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office — jointly have him in custody, Carbone said.
Soliman’s state court case is being heard at the Boulder County Justice Center at Sixth Street and Boulder Canyon Drive.
Soliman . He has been at the Jefferson County Jail since March 9, according to jail booking records. Previously, he had been held in the Boulder County Jail when first arrested, and was later in a federal prison’s custody until Jan. 30, according to .
But Soliman now spends his days and nights behind bars in Jefferson County, according to checked Thursday. That’s because the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office — the agency that runs the county jail — is one of the only nearby sheriff’s offices that contracts with the Marshals to house some federal inmates upon request, according to Jefferson County Sheriff’s spokesperson Jacki Kelley.
Across nearby counties, the jails in Weld, Broomfield, Adams, Larimer, Gilpin and Boulder counties each do not have a contract to hold federal inmates long term, according to spokespeople for each of those counties. Some sheriff’s offices, like Boulder County’s, will hold certain inmates for the Marshals overnight as a courtesy, but there’s no agreement to hold someone like Soliman between his court dates, according to Boulder County Sheriff’s spokesperson Carrie Haverfield.
Even if the Marshals asked Boulder County for a contract, its jail doesn’t have the room, Haverfield said.
Denver is the only other county that has both a jail within an hour’s drive of the Boulder County Justice Center and contracts with the U.S. Marshals, according to Denver County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Daria Serna.
Denver County uses two detention facilities, Serna said, including the Denver County Jail and the facility downtown to the west of Civic Center Park. Serna said that an inmate like Soliman would likely be held downtown — a less-than-40-minute drive and only 30 miles, according to an online mapping service.
The Jefferson County Jail in Golden beats that, with only about a 35-minute drive and 23 miles to the Justice Center, according to a mapping service.
That drive primarily relies on taking northbound Colorado 93, which isn’t known for heavy traffic. Coming from Denver, the marshals would likely have to take Interstate 25 and U.S. 36 — two highways that are known for heavy traffic.
Soliman is scheduled for a two-week trial on the state charges, planned for July 13 to 24, with jury selection starting on July 10. He is also scheduled for a motions hearing ahead of that trial on May 7.
It’s unclear whether Soliman will be held in a different facility during his trial on state charges.
In the federal case, a four-week trial is set to begin at 9 a.m. on Nov. 30 in the Alfred A. Arraj U.S. Courthouse in Denver.
