Gov. Jared Polis has requested Attorney General Phil Weiser to release an investigation into an Eastern Plains district attorney after complaints to the sheriff’s office that she improperly received opioids.
Polis issued an executive order on Aug. 15 appointing Weiser as a unique prosecutor to probe “criminal activity concerning” 13th Judicial District DA Brittny Lewton.
CPR News has found out from a source with the know-how of the investigation that the allegations are connected to Lewton, the use of her role as a prosecutor to obtain prescription opioids improperly.
“The governor is privy to allegations of misconduct and criminal conduct regarding the elected district attorney for the thirteenth Judicial District,” the executive order stated. “The behavior of elected officials is an issue of statewide significance, as is the integrity of the workplaces of the twenty-two elected district legal professionals liable for prosecuting crimes in our kingdom. The governor consequently unearths that it’s far necessary for the legal professional fashionable to behave as the kingdom’s prosecutor and investigate and, when the evidence allows, prosecute criminal interest.”
Polis’ office stated they had no further comment. Weiser confirmed his office was looking into the problem, but a spokesman stated the workplace could not speak about ongoing research.
Lewton’s attorney, Stan Garnett, a former Boulder County district legal professional now running as a defense lawyer, stated he became doing what he ought to make sure Lewton may want to continue doing her activity as lead prosecutor within the judicial district serving six northeast Colorado counties, which includes Morgan, Logan and Yuma, and the cities Sterling and Fort Morgan.
“She has to preserve her constitutional duty to run the DA’s office,” Garnett stated, speakme on Lewton’s behalf. “Brittny is happy with what she’s achieved in her almost seven years as district attorney; she’s been elected two times, employing overwhelming margins, and she’s free of any idea of wrongdoing.”
In July, the investigation started with employees inside Lewton’s office who raised concerns about Lewton’s conduct about local law enforcement. Together with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Sheriff’s deputies carried out a research, said Tom Raynes, govt director of the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council.
Once proof materialized, country officers consulted with Raynes approximately how to continue seeing that Lewton is in the price of the judicial district where the mentioned incidents occurred. Raynes asked the district lawyer in Routt County, who works on the opposite side of the country, in all fairness, was new to the process and didn’t know Lewton, for that workplace to play an advisory function through reviewing the law enforcement investigation.