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RIFLE, Colorado — The trial of a man accused of shooting at a Rifle police officer has been postponed until July, after his defense attorney claimed that evidence was not made available in time for the Jan. 30 trial.
Phillip Michael Amonette is awaiting trial for first-degree attempted murder in the Oct. 22, 2010, shooting of Rifle Police Officer Garrett Duncan. The officer was hit in the chest, but a protective vest absorbed much of the blow and he survived.
Duncan and fellow officer Dewey Ryan had answered a domestic disturbance call when Amonette allegedly fired shots. The officers, in turn, fired at Amonette, and he spent 51 days in the hospital recovering from four bullet wounds. Amonette has since been lodged at the Garfield County Jail.
The recorders were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Forensic Lab in Quantico, Va., and were not returned by a court deadline of Dec. 22, according a motion filed by the defense.
“It's true that they didn't have access to those recorders,” acknowledged prosecutor Jeff Cheney, assistant district attorney for the Ninth District. “But I don't think that we've denied access to the evidence.”
Public Defender Matt Morriss argues in the motion entered Jan. 6 that the defense hasn't had enough time to have an independent analysis of the recorders completed by the Jan. 30 trial date. He called the denial of access to evidence “part of a pattern from the Ninth Judicial District Attorney's Office.”
“I would respectfully dispute that,” Cheney said, calling it an isolated incident.
Cheney said the recorders were sent to the FBI, and the DA's office was unaware they were still in Virginia when Morriss filed the motion to postpone the trial on Jan. 6.
As of Thursday, Cheney said the recorders had been returned and should have been delivered to the public defender's office, although he couldn't confirm it.
Regardless, Cheney said despite the absence of the recorders, the audio recordings retrieved from the devices, which is really the key evidence in the case, have been in the possession of the public defender's office since early on in the case.
Ninth District Judge James Boyd declined to impose sanctions on the district attorney's office, but granted the public defender's request for a six-month postponement of the trial. The trial, slated to last 10 days, is now set for July 16.
Phillip Michael Amonette is awaiting trial for first-degree attempted murder in the Oct. 22, 2010, shooting of Rifle Police Officer Garrett Duncan. The officer was hit in the chest, but a protective vest absorbed much of the blow and he survived.
Duncan and fellow officer Dewey Ryan had answered a domestic disturbance call when Amonette allegedly fired shots. The officers, in turn, fired at Amonette, and he spent 51 days in the hospital recovering from four bullet wounds. Amonette has since been lodged at the Garfield County Jail.
The recorders were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Forensic Lab in Quantico, Va., and were not returned by a court deadline of Dec. 22, according a motion filed by the defense.
“It's true that they didn't have access to those recorders,” acknowledged prosecutor Jeff Cheney, assistant district attorney for the Ninth District. “But I don't think that we've denied access to the evidence.”
Public Defender Matt Morriss argues in the motion entered Jan. 6 that the defense hasn't had enough time to have an independent analysis of the recorders completed by the Jan. 30 trial date. He called the denial of access to evidence “part of a pattern from the Ninth Judicial District Attorney's Office.”
“I would respectfully dispute that,” Cheney said, calling it an isolated incident.
Cheney said the recorders were sent to the FBI, and the DA's office was unaware they were still in Virginia when Morriss filed the motion to postpone the trial on Jan. 6.
As of Thursday, Cheney said the recorders had been returned and should have been delivered to the public defender's office, although he couldn't confirm it.
Regardless, Cheney said despite the absence of the recorders, the audio recordings retrieved from the devices, which is really the key evidence in the case, have been in the possession of the public defender's office since early on in the case.
Ninth District Judge James Boyd declined to impose sanctions on the district attorney's office, but granted the public defender's request for a six-month postponement of the trial. The trial, slated to last 10 days, is now set for July 16.
