DENVER – The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed suit this morning against the City of Trinidad and a pair of Trinidad detectives on behalf of two innocent women who were falsely arrested and prosecuted as part of a highly-publicized “drug sting” in December, 2013.

According to the lawsuit, detectives Phil Martin and Arsenio Vigil relied on unsubstantiated accusations made by an untrustworthy confidential informant while ignoring readily available evidence that clearly demonstrated that ACLU clients Danika Gonzales and Felicia Valdez were innocent.  According to the ACLU, these unjustified false arrests are representative of the Trinidad Police Department’s “custom, policy, and/or practice of conducting undercover stings and arrests in a manner that violates the U.S. Constitution.”

Overall, 40 individuals were arrested during Trinidad’s 2013 “drug sting,” many on the basis of false, deficient, and misleading arrest affidavits, according to the ACLU complaint.  None of the 40 arrests resulted in a drug-related conviction.

“At the Trinidad police department, it is standard operating procedure to recruit snitches of unproven and untested reliability and unleash them on the community with money and a directive to buy drugs, without the oversight, control and supervision that is regarded as standard in law enforcement circles,” said ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein.  “The result is an open invitation for an opportunistic snitch to lie with impunity, to pocket the “buy” money, to skim drugs for personal use, and to settle personal scores by framing innocent persons, all while getting handsomely paid by the police. And that is what happened in this case, after the Trinidad police recruited informant Crystal Bachicha.”

The cases that relied on Bachicha’s accusations started to fall apart shortly after the “drug sting” and the arrests of 40 people.  Two people arrested for supposed drug sales to Bachicha were cleared after it was proven that they were actually in jail on the dates the sales supposedly occurred.

The lawsuit charges that Martin and Vigil sought arrest warrants based on Bachicha’s uncorroborated accusations while deliberately concealing from the judge a wealth of facts they knew would cast doubt on her credibility and motives.  In addition, the ACLU charges that the detectives laced the arrest affidavits with false and misleading assertions designed to manufacture probable cause for arrest.

Gonzalez, who had been Bachicha’s probation officer, lost her job as a result of the false arrest.  Valdez was fired from her job with the Trinidad School System, and she and her children were evicted from their federally-subsidized housing.

“The detectives turned a blind eye to multiple red flags indicating that their snitch was not trustworthy, and worse, they either ignored or downright concealed evidence that would have made clear that the snitch was lying and our clients were innocent,” said Paul Karlsgodt, of Baker Hostetler LLP, who is leading a team of ACLU cooperating attorneys litigating the case.

The suit was filed this morning in federal district court in Denver.

more on this case

As 2014 closes, here are 12 highlights that represent a sample of the cases won, bills passed or defeated, and civil liberties issues raised by the ACLU of Colorado this year.  There will be even more challenges ahead in 2015, from fights for privacy, free speech, voting rights and racial justice to battles against mass incarceration, capital punishment, abuse of police power, and discrimination in all its forms. Thank you to all of our members, supporters, and activists for caring about civil liberties, because it is your support and your activism that turns promised rights into actual rights for all people in Colorado and across our nation.

1. Marijuana Legalization Implemented. On January 1, 2014, implementation began for Amendment 64, allowing legal sale and possession of small amounts of marijuana under Colorado law. Colorado’s example has been watched by other states, helping put a dent in the costly “War on Drugs.”
2. Debtors’ Prison Practices Stopped. After ACLU of Colorado research and advocacy, the Colorado legislature put an end to the practice of putting Coloradans in jail because they were too poor to pay fines.
3. Solitary Confinement Curtailed. The legislature banned the costly, cruel, and inhumane practice of warehousing prisoners with serious mental illness in solitary confinement. The overall solitary confinement population in Colorado prisons dropped to about 200 from over 1700 three years earlier.
4. Illegal Detainers Ended. Based on ACLU attorney Mark Silverstein’s legal analysis, sheriffs in all Colorado counties agreed to end the illegal practice of holding people in jail beyond what should have been their time of release at the request of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
5. Discrimination in the Name of Religion Rebuffed. Colorado courts ruled that discrimination by Masterpiece Cakeshop against LGBT customers violated public accommodation laws, and the ACLU of Colorado continued to fight off legislative efforts to allow discrimination in the name of religion.
6. Death Penalty Reprieve Granted. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper officially expressed his opposition to the death penalty, calling it expensive, unequal and ineffective as a deterrent to crime.
7. Awareness of Privacy and Surveillance Issues Increased.   While Colorado Senate Bill 193 succeeded in prohibiting searches of location devices without a warrant, broader concerns about privacy grew in the wake of revelations about government surveillance of American citizens, laying the groundwork for future efforts to protect privacy rights.
8. Marriage Equality Achieved. On October 7, 2014, the full freedom to marry for same-sex couples became the law of the land in Colorado.
9. Women’s Reproductive Rights Protected. In addition to the defeat of bills that would have limited women’s reproductive rights, the deceptive fetal personhood amendment was soundly defeated by the No on 67 coalition. The ACLU of Colorado also protected the rights of nursing mothers to be accommodated by their employers.
10. Police Practices Put Under the Spotlight. National attention on police killings of young black men was amplified in Colorado by multiple judgments against Denver law enforcement. Meanwhile the ACLU investigated bad police practices in Trinidad and settled a mistaken identity case in Denver.
11. Student Activism Renewed. 2014 saw the highest level of high school student protests in Colorado in many years, from Jefferson County students protesting right-wing religious attacks on school curricula to dozens of student protests against police brutality and racial bias.
12. Criminalization of Homelessness Fought. After winning a case in Colorado Springs against an unconstitutional ordinance aimed at driving away people who are homeless, the ACLU of Colorado has recognized and begun a broader fight against the criminalization of homelessness all across the state.

I am horrified by the killing of police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in New York City.  I grieve for their families, and I sympathize with the outrage of the law enforcement community.  At the same time, I remain horrified by the killing of Eric Garner and other victims of police violence.  I grieve for their families, and I sympathize with the outrage of protesters.  Are these sentiments contradictory?  I don’t think so.
The violent death of any person in our society is tragic, no matter what that person’s race or position may be.  No matter what a family looks like, the violent loss of a loved one causes anguish and anger.  When a whole community feels under attack, communal outrage is to be expected.
To prevent escalating cycles of violence and revenge, our laws and constitutional principles are supposed to seek accountability with due process, without cruel or unusual punishment, and with equal protection for all.  When those systems fail to provide justice equally applied, there are constitutionally-protected outlets for protest through free speech, the right of assembly, and the right to petition for redress of grievances.
These rights of protest are being exercised by thousands of people who see or suffer from widespread injustice through racial bias in our criminal justice system and excessive use of force with impunity by law enforcement.  The problem is real--the stories and statistics do not lie.  Colorado is not exempt from these problems, and the resulting anger should not be a surprise.
Now a man who apparently shot his girlfriend in Baltimore and threatened online to kill police has gone on to ambush and murder officers Liu and Ramos in New York before killing himself.  He did not act at the behest of those protesting injustice and he certainly did not listen to the family of Eric Garner, who could not have been clearer in calling for nonviolent response.
New York law enforcement had the option of helping de-escalate violence by making clear that nonviolent protesters were not to blame for this horrific killing, but instead, in their anger, some police representatives placed blame for the deaths on protesters and any politicians willing to listen to those protesters.
The last thing our nation needs is an escalating war between police and the communities they are supposed to serve and protect.  We have already moved too far down the road of police militarization.  Even more aggressive policing with impunity for police violence will only make everyone less safe and put more of our civil liberties in danger.
We should also be skeptical of inflammatory stories in the media.  Protests on the ground in Ferguson, Missouri, led primarily by women of color, have been overwhelmingly peaceful over a long period of time, but no one would have that impression from most media coverage of Ferguson.  Locally in Denver, you might have thought from media headlines that East High School protesters caused the injuries of officer John Adsit when that was not the case.  In fact, East students and their families have raised over $10,000 for the Adsit family, wishing for his recovery.  At the ACLU, we share in that wish.
Everyone has a role in de-escalating violence, which is why de-escalation skills are a part of ACLU Know Your Rights trainings for police encounters or protests.  These are good skills for anyone to know, but in the case of law enforcement, knowing how to manage anger and de-escalate violence is not just a good idea, it is a professional responsibility.  As carriers of government power, police are bound by the constitution and by their oaths and codes of ethics.  Police officers do have difficult jobs, and honoring these codes is part of the challenge.  With respect to accountability under the law, recognizing and overcoming bias, preventing violence and acting with respect even if faced with disrespect, law enforcement should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one.
In response to student protests locally, a conversation on race was begun by Denver Mayor Hancock at the Colorado History Center on December 19.  There was not room for all the people who wanted to be present.  The session barely touched upon some core issues of police accountability, but it will prove valuable if it begins a path toward real education and real reform.  A deeper conversation was held in the same space the next day at a community-led discussion on Black Lives and White Allies.  What is clear is that these issues are not going away and there is much work to be done.  I commend those in Colorado law enforcement who are reaching out to black leaders and youth of color.  Some have reached out to the ACLU as well.  In the face of loss of life and tragedy, we have a choice of withdrawing and resisting change, or of coming together and doing the tough work of reform.  Only the latter will save lives in the long run.