A district attorney on Colorado’s Western Slope dismissed more than 30 criminal cases and is reviewing nearly 100 more because of newly discovered credibility issues with the deputy who investigated the alleged crimes.
Sixth Judicial District Attorney Sean Murray is reviewing every case in which Jermal Ball is or was a witness, the prosecutor said Friday.
Ball was, until this month, a deputy at the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office. He left the agency after reporting by The Denver Post showed he’d been fired from a previous job with the Durango Police Department for dishonesty after he was pulled over for suspected drunk driving and lied to internal affairs investigators.
The 2022 termination should have triggered a state investigation into Ball and the revocation of his certification to work as a police officer in Colorado, but the Durango Police Department did not report the incident to state disciplinary authorities at the time. That inaction allowed Ball to secure a job at the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office in 2022.
He worked there as a deputy Murray confirmed.
Archuleta County Sheriff Mike Le Roux did not return a request for comment Friday, and it was not clear whether Ball was fired or resigned.
A ‘rogue’ Colorado cop was fired for dishonesty. He kept his badge despite state reforms.
Durango police should have reported Ball's termination at the time, Murray said Friday. Instead, Durango police Chief Brice Current only notified the DA's office of Ball's credibility issues on May 6, as state authorities became aware of the termination for the first time. That notice to the DA's office prompted the review of 120 cases -- both pending and closed -- that Ball handled during his tenure at the sheriff's office, Murray said.
Murray dismissed 33 cases in which the prosecutions hinged on Ball's testimony and credibility, he said, and his office is continuing to review about 90 additional cases.
"Essentially, the question for us is, 'Is this case one we feel we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt, or do we have confidence we should be prosecuting even if we take his involvement out?'" Murray said. "...If the case hinged on his credibility, we dismissed the case."
A number of the dismissed cases were DUI arrests, Murray said, in which Ball alone articulated the reason for the stop and evidence of intoxication. The deputy had a reputation for focusing on DUI enforcement at the sheriff's office and was commended for making 43 DUI arrests in 2024, according to records obtained by The Post.
Ball was a trainee officer in Durango when he was pulled over for suspected drunken driving by an officer in his own department in 2022. That officer believed Ball was drunk, but that Ball was using insider tricks to beat at least one of the roadside sobriety tests. The officer decided he didn't have enough evidence to arrest Ball, but he summoned a supervisor, who started an internal affairs investigation.
As part of that internal investigation, Ball submitted to a breath test that showed he had .157 blood alcohol content -- nearly twice the legal limit.
Ball nevertheless denied drinking that night and was fired for dishonesty days later, records reviewed by The Post showed. Current said Durango police did not report Ball's termination to the state's because he had not yet been sworn in at the department, and they did not believe the report was required.
The case highlighted limits in Colorado's police oversight despite significant recent reforms aimed at forcing dishonest cops out of the profession.
