Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [293]
In his letter, Thomas had also objected that the Boulder detectives wouldn’t be used as “advisory witnesses.” There was no such thing as an “advisory witness” in a grand jury proceeding. Wise believed that Thomas may not have known that Kane and Hunter were using Wickman as the primary investigator and that Wickman would be advising the DA’s office during the grand jury proceedings. It was also possible that Thomas didn’t know that the officers who had been at the crime scene would be called to testify before the grand jury.
When it came to the detective’s motive, his illness had to be considered, Wise thought. Thomas was saying he couldn’t continue being a cop and had applied for medical leave. The stress of working this case must have aggravated his thyroid condition. Yet he had to know that the prosecution’s case would be damaged by his airing his views. Wise knew that everything had to be considered before anyone could pass judgment on Thomas’s motives.
On Wednesday, August 12, Hunter, Wise, and Hofstrom met again—this time with the metro DAs—in a fourth-floor office at the Colorado District Attorney’s Council in downtown Denver.
The DAs told Hunter that they were prepared to back him against Thomas’s accusations. They recommended that Hunter not reply to specific allegations which, in their opinion were without merit. However, since the governor was now involved, a public response had to be made. The governor had the power to appoint the attorney general as a special prosecutor, they reminded Hunter. They didn’t think the situation warranted that, but Grant said, “One guy can’t do it by himself,” referring to Michael Kane. They told Hunter that now, more than ever, his office needed solid prosecutorial support. “We need to make sure the case is properly presented,” Grant said, “and you need to make sure the case is properly presented.”
“It’s all right to have people in your office with different opinions,” Grant added, without mentioning Hofstrom, who was sitting there, by name, or Trip DeMuth or Lou Smit. “But now you need people who are reading from the same book if not the same page.” Hofstrom listened but said nothing.
Hunter saw the handwriting on the wall: he was being told to take help whether he needed it or not.
Then the DAs asked to talk to Hunter alone. The final decision, Grant said, would have to be made by the elected district attorneys. Wise and Hofstrom left the room.
Grant told Hunter that the metro DAs had backed him for eighteen months with their own reputations. Now those reputations were also on the line. In the long run, Grant pointed out, the discussion they were having now would have come up anyway. In fact, there was no discussion: everyone in the room knew where this was heading.
Bill Ritter reminded Hunter of a state statute that allowed for special prosecutors to be brought in under his authority.* Hunter, as the Boulder County DA, would still make the ultimate decisions about how to proceed and whether to bring charges. Any prosecutor brought aboard would understand that it was still Alex Hunter’s case.
Ritter told Hunter that he had already made inquiries about Al LaCabe, an attorney in the Denver office of the U.S. attorney general. LaCabe was available. The next step, Ritter said, would be for Hunter to make a formal request of U.S. attorney general Janet Reno in Washington and, locally, of U.S. attorney for Denver Henry Solano, LaCabe’s boss. Ritter told Hunter that LaCabe was not only a fine prosecutor but also a former police officer; he would get along with the Boulder detectives. Everyone agreed that a second person would be needed—someone with both general experience and some expertise in DNA.
The meeting lasted maybe half an hour. When it ended, Hunter said he wanted to tell Hofstrom