Posted on 01/05/2002 12:26:27 PM PST by t-shirt
Governor recommends that county attorney convene special panel
January 4, 2002 By John Sanko and Charlie Brennan, News Staff Writers
Gov. Bill Owens Thursday called for a grand jury investigation into the Columbine High School shootings. The governor, who impaneled his own state commission to review the 1999 tragedy, said Jefferson County District Attorney Dave Thomas should convene a grand jury on Columbine.
"I think Dave Thomas should re-examine his earlier decision not to call a grand jury," Owens told a meeting of Rocky Mountain News editors and editorial writers.
The governor's comments came the day after four victims' families called for a federal probe into the mass shootings and local law enforcement's response.
Jefferson County District Attorney Dave Thomas has not ruled out convening a grand jury, his spokeswoman, Pam Russell, said. "We are still open.'
New questions have come to light over the shooting of 15-year-old Daniel Rohrbough and whether he might have been gunned down accidentally by a Denver police officer rather than Columbine killers Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold.
Rohrbough's family claimed in federal court filings last month that Denver Police Sgt. Dan O'Shea shot their son during the emergency response to the April 20, 1999, massacre of 12 students and teacher Dave Sanders.
Although investigators insist witnesses saw the two killers shoot the boy early in the attack, the Rohrbough family released a tape recording Wednesday they said was Arapahoe County Sheriff's Deputy Jim Taylor saying their son was shot while fleeing the school.
"If he (Taylor) is lying, it's going to forever cloud the results of basically a pretty in-depth study," Owens said.
"I think subpoena powers might be helpful," Owens added. "I think Dave Thomas is probably reconsidering his decision of last March, which came before a number of these (new) allegations had been made."
Barry Arrington, the attorney representing five victim families including the Rohrboughs, said a Jefferson County grand jury investigation "would be wonderful.
"Dave Thomas has had two and a half years to appoint a grand jury, and hasn't. I would encourage a grand jury wherever we can get someone with subpoena power and the ability to place people under oath," Arrington said.
As recently as Dec. 20, Thomas promised Columbine victims' survivors that he would take another look at threats Eric Harris made before the massacre. But he has twice turned down requests from families to launch a grand jury probe. <:P> It may be several days before Arapahoe County Sheriff Pat Sullivan hears the Rohrbough family's secretly recorded tape appearing to contradict Taylor's written statement about his actions at Columbine, which Sullivan released on Monday.
In that statement, Taylor claimed, "It is not true that I saw Daniel Rohrbough get shot or any other person . . . "
Sullivan's Monday press release went on to claim Taylor "was never in a position to witness or hear a weapon being fired" in the vicinity where Rohrbough's body was discovered, and that Taylor "never heard any gun shots on April 20th and never saw any deceased victims on April 20th."
The actions of Taylor that day are pivotal because they could help determine when Daniel Rohrbough was killed, and could potentially undermine the official version of events.
But Arapahoe County officials now say Taylor's comments to the Rohrbough family reflect only what he had seen on television or in newspapers.
Nevertheless, Sullivan is anxious to hear the Rohrbough family's tape that purports to catch Taylor in a flat contradiction of his official statement.
"It's obviously pretty informative, there's no doubt about that," Sullivan said, referring to those portions of the tape that have appeared in the media.
"But I want to know the whole context of what was going on. We need to hear the whole thing."
Rohrbough is setting conditions the sheriff must meet before reviewing the entire 2 1/2-hour tape.
"My position is going to be that there's some information in his office that he has never released," Rohrbough said. "There's a couple dozen police reports from his officers that have never been released" which substantiate Taylor being in position to see Daniel Rohrbough being shot.
"I'd like a confirmation of that information from Sheriff Sullivan, before the entire tape is released to him," Rohrbough said.
Owens does not have the authority to call a statewide grand jury. Attorney General Ken Salazar does, but he said a state grand jury typically is called where there are allegations of local corruption, which he said was not true in the present case.
The governor could name a special prosecutor but said he did not think that was appropriate.
Owens noted that a grand jury would have subpoena powers to compel testimony that his special Columbine commission, headed by former Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice William Erickson, did not.
The commission released a 200-page report last May that was highly critical of the way the incident was handled, claiming the two killers were given "free rein" of the school for 46 minutes and no effort was made to "engage, contain or capture" the killers.
Its report was criticized by Sheriff Stone, who blasted it as "inaccurate and irresponsible."
Stone refused to testify before the commission during its 10 months of hearings.
Staff writers Karen Abbott and Kevin Vaughan contributed to this report. Contact John Sanko at (303) 892-5404 or at sankoj@RockyMountainNews.com.
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Columbine lawyers want federal probe
January 4, 2002
By Karen Abbott, News Staff Writer
Colorado U.S. Attorney John Suthers said Thursday that no one has asked him to start a federal grand jury investigation of charges that Jefferson County sheriff's officials have lied about the Columbine shootings. But several lawyers for Columbine families said a federal probe is the only way to find the truth and they're going to ask Suthers to start one.
"I am going to file a formal request with John Suthers, to initiate a federal grand jury investigation," Barry Arrington, who represents the family of slain Columbine student Daniel Rohrbough, said Thursday.
The Rohrbough family has alleged that a Denver police officer shot their son to death in the chaos outside Columbine High School. They have accused Jefferson County sheriff's officials of covering up what really happened.
Suthers also said, in a statement issued through a spokesman, "Before devoting resources we need to have a reasonable belief that a federal crime has been committed."
Arrington said he has grounds. "The basis for that is the deprivation of constitutional rights. . .and the cover-up of that," he said.
Arrington also represents several other Columbine families who have said they are frustrated in their quest to know what really happened at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, and in the activities of killers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris during the 13 months before the shootings.
Denver U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock dismissed several families' lawsuits against law enforcement and school officials in November, ruling that the families had not provided evidence that the officials acted egregiously enough to overcome their legal immunity from lawsuits.
But the families say newly public allegations -- about how Daniel Rohrbough was shot and how Harris wrote detailed plans in a diary months before the shootings, among other things -- do provide the required evidence.
They have asked Babcock to reconsider.
Arrington said a grand jury's subpoena power, and its ability to put witnesses under oath, is the only way the families will obtain the truth.
Two other lawyers for Columbine families agreed.
"They (sheriff's officials) have been hiding evidence not just on the Rohrbough shooting, but on the 13 months that these two kids, Klebold and Harris, were making threats, building bombs, exploding bombs," said Walter Gerash.
Attorney Stephen Wahlberg said, "I strongly feel that the Rohrbough family, and other families -- we, as people -- need to know what happened here."
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Autopsy of Klebold stays sealed
January 4, 2002
News had appealed judge's earlier ruling
By News Staff
A judge has denied a petition by the Rocky Mountain News to make public the entire autopsy report for Columbine High killer Dylan Klebold.
The four-page ruling by District Judge R. Brooke Jackson found that publication of details of Klebold's autopsy would offend a significant portion of the population in the Denver area.
The News had originally sought the autopsy reports for Klebold and his partner, Eric Harris, after a judge in 1999 sealed all of the autopsy reports in the Columbine tragedy.
After the News appealed, Harris' report was released. However, Klebold's family objected to the release of his autopsy report, and the issue has been in court since.
The News has sought the autopsy report as a way to answer lingering questions about whether Klebold killed himself. Although that was the official ruling, some evidence released in the past year appears to contradict that finding.
In his ruling, Jackson found that Klebold's parents, Tom and Sue Klebold, were "part of the group" of surviving family members.
"Whether or not one considers them blameworthy for the actions of their son -- a question on which I express no opinion -- they are parents who have lost a child," Jackson wrote. "They are parents whose lives were shattered on April 20, 1999. And, they are parents who state through counsel that they will be terribly hurt if the graphic details of their son's autopsy are published in the News or on the Internet or elsewhere."
John Temple, publisher and editor of the News, said he was disappointed by the ruling.
"It's obvious from recent events how many questions remain unanswered in the Columbine case," he said. "We regret that the judge does not believe in the healing power of our sunshine laws."
It's long past time for a Grand Jury to look into this thing.
If some cops lied or covered up facts, that belong in the slammer for a long, long time. Wouldn't you agree?
L
In Dane's world, LEO's NEVER screw up, commit crimes, or are in any way responsible for their actions, because they have a hard job, and the OTHER guy is to blame.
Name and badge # Dane, name and badge #...still waiting.
so you think the original murderers... killed more innocents using the cops gun, two or three hours after they were already dead? stastist worship at its finest.
The governor suspects the cops are culpable... but he too is wrong? The parents of the innocents claim to have evidence that other judicial branch "officers of the court" think may indicate police culpability.. but you don't want it investigated, or prosecuted even if the cop acted outside the law? or was in a medication induced state when he KILLED the innocent kid(s)?
Cops are as holy as god... because YOU think so??? even when the elected officials of the people believe a grand jury is definitely in order... those officials including the governor of the state for chrissakes? And he is wrong too, right?
My cop friends think there is a stink... and they are probably wrong too... after all, dane says its all about the two perps who were long dead when the innocent kid(s) were shot with police only ordnance... The original "event" was long over... but hell, it was the dead perps fault... they probably were responsible for every mistake cops made all day, everywhere that day, because they "upset" the leos to begin with. Officer so and so beat the hell out of his wife later that day... the earlier event in columbine caused him "post traumatic stress" that was kleibold and harris' fault. ridiculous but that is exactly where such specious reasoning leads.
I THINK the truth is: this whole columbine event is about cowards... and those who support them... plain and simple. It is about rewarding cowardice, evidenced by those who refuse to go in when danger and death are all around, by protection and praise... they should be ashamed.
Looks like these cops WERE not the caliber of the cops in new york who ran in when death was imminent... to save lives. Funny but the new york cops did not "wig out" and start shooting folks as they escaped the twin towers now did they??? Sounds like at least some of these columbine police are pu$$ease and cowards... unlike their new york counterparts. A REAL cop puts the lives of others above his own.... he's a hero... but the kind of behaviors suggested by the formation of this grand jury... suggest cowardess and fraud in the extreme...
It's going to be good if the perpetrator(s) of the UNNECESSARY DEATHS and subsequent coverup agents for the cop who must of went berserk... are exposed and tried. If mentally competent, the cop and his enablers will go to prison. It will be a GOOD lesson for the other statist cowards who would dare to put on a sheild UNDER the people's authority, and who misuse that authority and ordnance as cowards or as a means to enjoy their own insane "power trip" by killing innocent americans needlessly.
Until this is resolved... no cops from columbine that day should be allowed to travel to ground zero in new york... holy ground where heros only can tread. Shame on the columbine cowards....
I have to ask: if this cop were NOT guilty and his enablers believed NO law had been broken why the organized resistance... why the cover up?
Remember how this played into the anti gun lobby's quest for new laws at the time? Remember that the cops KNEW about klebold and harris' plans, and had reviewed them on tape BEFORE the event occured? Was this Bill clinton's finest work?
These cops may not just have been cowards... to the average american its beginning to look like they conspired to bring this event about... They knew about it before... and engaged actively in cover up activities after.
This whole event is beyond the pale. Something is rotten in Colorado. Does clinton have important "friends" there or something?
Thanks. Bookmarked to follow up and compare in the days/weeks/years to come. I'm pretty sure that by the time they're ready to give us any REAL answers, we'll all have died of old age, anyway.
Don't know much about human nature, huh t-shirt?
When somebody says it's not about money, it's about money.
I read that in a Michael Rivero post.
Most likely, it's NOT true.
Pictures that the cowards shown in them, and their various apologists, disregard as they demand of us, "Are you going to believe us, or your lying eyes?"
You might get a grand jury and you might even get some sort of conviction, but it would be overturned on appeal because the courts have ruled time and again that the police are under no legal obligation to protect anyone in particular.
The only solution is go after, at the polls, the first available elected official in the chain of command. I think that would be the sherrif and the mayor(s).
You might get a grand jury and you might even get some sort of conviction, but it would be overturned on appeal because the courts have ruled time and again that the police are under no legal obligation to protect anyone in particular.
The only solution is go after, at the polls, the first available elected official in the chain of command. I think that would be the sherrif and the mayor(s).
While true, it is also irrellevant. If some one broke down your door and stole your TV, then later a second person walked through that door and took some more of your stuff, would the second person be absolved of responsibility for their actions? Analogous situtation.
Can one be gunned up?
This is going to be one BIG can'o'worms...
FMCDH
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