We’re the ones paying for all this theft

Re: “Grocery stores ramp up theft deterrents,” Sept. 7 news story

Depending on the neighborhood, The Denver Post reported that stores are securing merchandise or going to extraordinary lengths to inconvenience legitimate shoppers from purchasing items. Items under lock and key now necessitate a store employee to provide the key to the locked storage. Good luck with getting a quick response.

Store and corporation policy dictates against any employee action against shoplifting because of liability and risk of violence. But in the meantime, legitimate shoppers have to foot the bill.

Police and the courts are too involved in more serious crimes to effectively prosecute shoplifters since it is only a misdemeanor. Good luck with having a police officer respond to the scene. Lastly, the media publicizes these incidents of no prosecution and thereby encourages more errant behavior.

The five-finger discount is alive and well in Denver.

Philip Arreola, Denver

Wolves suffer in human interventions

Re: “Death in pack as wolves captured,” Sept. 10 news story

I did not vote for wolf reintroduction. Why? Because efforts like the proposed reintroduction always mean suffering, trauma, and death for the subject animals. When will humans look beyond their own limited interests and really think of other species we share the planet with?

Think about the fear the four juveniles and their mother are now experiencing while in captivity. The male is dead. Then, think about the terrible suffering the ranch animals experienced.

Wolves had naturally found their way to Colorado. Let’s leave well enough alone.

Marianna Young, Monte Vista

Coach Payton right to remain a mystery

Re: “Time for Payton to prove he’s worth $18M by outcoaching Macdonald,” Sept. 8 sports commentary

Call this a novice’s opinion, but I don’t think anyone, the Denver sports writers included, has figured out what Broncos Coach Sean Payton is really all about. That’s what got former coach Nathaniel Hackett into trouble, being too honest. Personally, I am in the “let’s see where the team is at Thanksgiving” camp; any more thought about it will tax my few remaining brain cells.

Payton will, and should, hold his cards close to the vest. All coaches will, and he who has the last card will win it all. And as the famous Howard Cosell would say, nothing more to be said about that.

Gary Rauchenecker, Golden

Husker fan not pining for Prime

Re: “Why does Coach Prime drive Husker fans nuts? ‘They wish they had him’,” Sept. 8 sports story

Cornhuskers are jealous of Coach Prime? Nah, keep him. Long live Matt Rhule! We Husker fans just want some competent refs.

Pamela Bell, Thornton

Not a fan of Cornhuskers’ balloon release

Almost daily the news reports tell us that plastic is strangling our rivers and oceans, smothering the soil, and invading our bodies through our food supplies worldwide.

How, in the face of this terrible threat to our earth, can the University of Nebraska allow clouds of red balloons to be released to pollute their state and neighboring states? Why on earth were all those balloons allowed at a football game? There is nothing joyous about spreading litter across the countryside with complete disregard for the people, the plants, the animals, and the waterways, which will suffer from all that plastic fallout.

Nebraska, you can find better ways to celebrate.

Doris Cruze, Centennial

The Colorado district attorney at the center of the failed murder prosecution of the husband of Suzanne Morphew, who disappeared in 2020 and was later found dead, should be disbarred over multiple “ethical violations” while in her elected position, a state disciplinary board ruled Tuesday.

Linda Stanley — the district attorney for the 11th Judicial District, who led the prosecution team against Barry Morphew — “gravely abused her position of trust as a public official and minister of justice” after she made improper statements to the media; did not adequately supervise the prosecution, which included numerous discovery violations; and used her team to go after the judge who presided over the case, state disciplinary authorities ruled. 

The disbarment would take effect in 35 days, and Stanley has a week to appeal the decision. A lawyer for Stanley and the DA’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

“In the majority’s estimation, the Colorado legal profession and its prosecutorial community cannot rely on [Stanley’s] sense of integrity, probity, or righteousness to protect the public interest or to faithfully pursue justice for the citizens of the State of Colorado,” the 83-page disciplinary order says. “Her disbarment is therefore warranted.”

The decision comes three months after Stanley faced a two-week disciplinary hearing before a three-member panel under the Colorado Supreme Court, at which state regulators accused her of professional misconduct. The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel first brought the case in October. Stanley, a former police officer who was elected district attorney in November 2022, had already said she would not seek re-election. 

“This is a case about a ship with a captain who never manned the bridge,” Jonathan Blasewitz, an attorney for state’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, said during the hearing, according to The Colorado Sun, a news website based in Denver.

The defense attorney for Barry Morphew, husband of Suzanne Morphew, whose remains were found last year, praised the order.

“This was absolutely the right outcome,” Iris Eytan said in a statement.

Eytan, who founded Protect Ethical Prosecutors and had asked the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel to investigate Stanley, added that “Stanley will no longer be permitted to use a prosecutor’s unlimited power and discretion to prosecute” and said her organization “hopes that this case serves as a springboard to protect ethical prosecutors and also for more unethical prosecutors to be held accountable.”

The bombshell ruling is the latest twist in the failed case against Morphew in connection with the May 2020 disappearance of his wife of 26 years. 

Morphew, who released a video days after Suzanne vanished pleading for her safe return, was charged in May 2021 with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. Days later, he was hit with additional charges after, prosecutors said, he cast a mail-in ballot for Donald Trump on behalf of his wife. (Morphew pleaded guilty in the voter fraud case in July 2022 and did not serve any jail time.)

State regulators allege that soon after Morphew was arrested, Stanley began texting the host of the “Profiling Evil” YouTube channel about the case. After the charges were made public, she sought to provide information about the case to the host after the host questioned the criminal complaint against Morphew, regulators alleged.  

After the host floated a theory online that Morphew strangled his wife in a hot tub, Stanley texted him to shoot it down and told him that the tub looked like it had not been used “in a long time,” according to the state regulators. “But keep on spinning ideas in your brain!” Stanley texted, according to the order.

Stanley then appeared on the YouTube show on Aug. 30, 2021, despite reservations from fans who saw promotions about the interview, the order says. On the show, she discussed the public information about the case, the process of a preliminary hearing and how her office did not get the full case file until after Morphew was arrested.

“She concluded the segment by noting that she was a little insulted that people would question whether she should appear on the show and insisted that ‘[a]nything out in the public is ok to talk about,’” the order says, noting that she also responded to comments by viewers under the YouTube video. 

According to the order, Stanley during the disciplinary hearing justified replies to viewers’ posts by claiming an “important distinction” between her public persona as an elected DA and her private persona, who should be able to “defend herself from personal attacks.”

“She reasoned that in her responsive comments, she was acting as a person, not the elected district attorney, as evidenced by her use of her personal picture, as opposed to her professional headshot, and her personal email, rather than her business email,” the order says, adding that Stanley also testified that she responded to one comment “to correct the record to show that no-body homicides could be prosecuted successfully.” 

State regulators, however, say Stanley took it a step further when she reached out to the host of a YouTube podcast, “True Crime with Julez,” after she questioned the investigation in one of the videos. The order says Stanley reached out to the host directly on Facebook to defend herself and even shared her personal cell number. When the host asked her whether Morphew was “getting ready to flee,” Stanley responded “possibly.” (Stanley said during the hearing that her response was “straight, neutral, down the line,” the order says.)

“I was shocked, nervous, and unsettled when she contacted me,” the host told The Daily Beast about Stanley’s outreach. “I was intimidated.” 

While Stanley had time to respond to the media, she and her team could not keep up with deadlines to push the case forward, the order alleges. Judge Ramey Lama then ruled that the trial be moved out of the county because of Stanley’s public statements, and he continued to hammer the prosecution for being “sloppy” and blowing past discovery deadlines. 

Amid the unfavorable rulings against the prosecution less than two months before the expected April 2022 trial start date — including a ruling barring most of the prosecution witnesses set to testify about cellphone data — Stanley “instructed her chief investigator to interview” Lama’s ex-wife “to determine whether the judge committed domestic abuse,” according to the order.

“Even though she had no credible evidence to believe that the judge had ever engaged in such criminal conduct, [Stanley] ordered the investigation in an effort to uncover information about the judge that would require him to recuse from the case,” the order says. 

Shortly after an interview with the judge, Stanley moved to dismiss the case against Morphew without prejudice, meaning charges could be refiled. Lama resigned as a judge in April 2022 for personal reasons.

Suzanne Morphew’s remains were discovered in September, and the DA’s office has yet to announce charges in the case. Barry Morphew has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit over his arrest.

At the disciplinary hearing, Stanley’s lawyer argued that Stanley did not have the resources to handle such a high-profile case and struggled to hire prosecutors. He also argued that Stanley had the right to investigate Lama because he had been “incredibly biased” to her team. 

The order, however, says Stanley was “ultimately responsible for all actions in her office, including the prosecution team’s failures that resulted in the case’s dismissal — an outcome decidedly not in the public interest.” 

“In short, the Morphew case suffered because she did not act with reasonable diligence in exercising appropriate leadership and assuming appropriate managerial responsibilities,” the order says. 

Several animals captured from the Copper Creek wolf pack in Colorado will be relocated following repeated attacks on livestock.

An adult female and four pups were taken to a “secure location for evaluation and monitoring,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said in a press release. The pack’s adult male was captured but died in captivity due to injuries unrelated to its capture, officials said on Monday. That wolf would have been kept in captivity if it survived.

“This spring, after a pair of wolves established a den in Middle Park, the male adult wolf was involved in multiple depredations,” CPW Director Jeff Davis said in a statement. “Removing the male at that time, while he was the sole source of food and the female was denning, would likely have been fatal to the pups and counter to the restoration mandate.”

COLORADO MAN FOUND DEAD AT GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, 7TH FATALITY IN PAST MONTH

State officials said the four pups were not involved in the killings of cattle and sheep in Grant County, since they are “still primarily dependent on adults for food,” and cannot hunt “anything larger than a rabbit or squirrel.”

Owners of calves that are killed can be compensated by the state for the animal’s market value, up to $15,000.

Officials decided against killing the pack in part because it would have been a major setback for a restoration effort still in its infancy.

CO-WORKERS LEAVE COLORADO MAN BEHIND ON MOUNTAIN SUMMIT DURING OFFICE RETREAT

Cattle cross Highway 550 N of Ridgway on a cattle drive to Centennial Ranch, San Juan Mountains, Colorado. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The attacks and subsequent capture of the Copper Creek pack mark an early stumble in the voter-driven initiative to restore wolves to a state where they were wiped out decades ago by poison, trapping and hunting.

“We are still in the early stages of the restoration plan. Our legal obligation to Colorado voters is to continue working towards a sustainable population. We also must continue our efforts to minimize losses to our producers and to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of the wolves as we work towards a viable gray wolf population,” Davis said.

In 2020, Colorado voters passed Proposition 114, which required Colorado Parks and Wildlife to reintroduce gray wolves to designated lands on the western side of the Continental Divide no later than Dec. 31, 2023. (JASON CONNOLLY/AFP via Getty Images)

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“We will take the lessons we’ve learned here and apply them as we continue to build out a strong program alongside our federal and state partners, and both the wolf restoration advocacy and ranching communities,” Davis added. “The more we’re able to listen to understand one another and increase cooperation, the better off we’ll all be in the long run. Our focus in this case now is on a healthy release of the remaining members of the Copper Creek pack.”

A decision is pending on where the remainder of the pack will be released. That will occur after the pups get larger and can hunt on their own, officials said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.