CONVICTION OVERTURNED CO - Gannon Stauch, 11, found deceased, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, 27 Jan 2020 #70 *overturned April 2026*

[tlcya]

I am glad at least that the appellate court upheld the warrant at least so all the evidence from that warrant can still be used in her retrial. What was the judge thinking? the case law seems clear on the subject of the juror. Just such a waste. of time, of resources, of emotional energy the first trial has turned out to be. And now here we are, back at square one with this defendant

ETA I tend to agree with Judge Bernard, this gives the defendant an unfair opportunity to bank their objection for appeal. That is not a level playing field. Given this ruling in future I would expect Prosecutors to be wary if a defendant fails to use one of their peremptory challenges on a juror similar to MB and for prosecutors themselves to use one of their own challenges to keep such an individual off the jury. Although the onus is not on them to waste one of their challenges to strike a juror the defense should have, at least then they won't be faced with a conviction being overturned in future.

 

[Seattle1]

OH my gosh, I seriously cannot believe this. Cannot.

Can the state appeal the appeal?

Yes!

https://twitter.com/x/status/2039735959181553694

 

[NervousNellie]

That ducking spunk gets to put on yet another performance. We have no justice system.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Will the defense revisit the dissociative identity disorder tactic?

 

[tricia]

OMG. I am FURIOUS

 

[Ontario Mom]

Absolutely stunned to see this today.

 

[MassGuy]

This sucks, but it's not as if the outcome is in doubt. It's rare to have a case where you have zero concern that the defendant is going to be convicted again. Hopefully deliberations last less than 8 hours this time.

 

[AnyNameIWish]

This sucks, but it's not as if the outcome is in doubt. It's rare to have a case where you have zero concern that the defendant is going to be convicted again. Hopefully deliberations last less than 8 hours this time.

Shocked it even took 8 hours tbh.

Horrified, so so awful the family has fo go through this again.

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2039759629450981870

 

[Derph]

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT??!!!!!

 

[twall]

Will the defense revisit the dissociative identity disorder tactic?

Ugh, I hope not! I can't sit through the DID "expert" again. (Sorry, can't recall her name).
Will Judge Werner be presiding? He handled her antics well along with the bickering attorney's.

 

[Bipolar Express]

Saw this headline as I was sitting down for a pedicure…and felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Now that Ive read more here, Im relieved to know that shes not necessarily walking free, but will be retried. That sucks for Gannons family but Im certain w all the evidence retained she will be reconvicted. What a vile creature L. Stench is.

 

[Bipolar Express]

Will the defense revisit the dissociative identity disorder tactic?

Well if they do, Im thinking she hasn’t kept up with an act good enough to show DID all this time. So thinking it would be a waste of time for defense.

 

[Weki]

How did this get past the judge and the Prosecution?

Conveniently the Defense let it slide, perfect for appeal.

How did this juror even make it TO jury selection?

This was a foreseeable error.

I can't believe the prosecuting elected DA allowed the father in law of someone working in his staff to sit on this jury!!! Are you kidding me? The state asked for this reversal as far as I'm concerned. Good job, state. Now go do it all over again.

 

[Cindizzi]

[…]


An attorney representing Stauch in her appeal said a juror in Stauch’s trial had a son-in-law who worked for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the same office the prosecuted the case. The attorney argued that juror sat on the panel despite Stauch’s trial defense team challenging the juror, saying this should lead to a “reversal” of her conviction.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Katharine Gillespie argued the trial judge never made a ruling regarding the juror in question, and says Stauch’s trial defense team did not challenge that juror correctly under state law.

[…]

Colorado Court of Appeals overturns conviction of Letecia Stauch, orders a retrial

The conviction of a woman an El Paso County jury found guilty of murder in the death of stepson, 11-year-old Gannon Stauch has been overturned and she will be retried.

www.kktv.com

 

[tlcya]

given the close relationship this juror had to someone working under the trial prosecutor I am flummoxed as to how that individual even ended up in the pool of prospective jurors to begin with.

 

[Weki]

I read the reversal opinion from the appeals court, which summarized the arguments by the state, which are the same as the summary in the article above. Weak!! Weak argument by the state on this issue. The CofA opinion quoted some of the argument made by the state when defense objected to this juror and the state wanted this juror to stay. They didn't hesitate on that at all. Unbelievable!

 

[dyannaON]

Haven’t been on WS in a minute. But what the heck. Why. This is maddening.

 

[Queen of the Winter Night]

SICK that tax dollars need to go toward trying this case all over again but as above comments have said, we can be very confident that the outcome will be the same and we will not have a dangerous person on our streets being a danger to children.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Under Colorado law, any juror who is related within the third degree to any deputy district attorney in the elected area is ineligible to serve on a panel. During voir dire in Stauch’s trial, “Juror M.B.” revealed that his son-in-law worked in the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office — the same office prosecuting Stauch’s case.

When Stauch’s defense counsel objected to the juror and asked that he be stricken, the trial judge refused. “I don’t think it’s a statutory cause,” Judge Gregory Werner said at the time. “We conclude the trial court’s statement, ‘I don’t think it’s a statutory cause,’ reflected the court’s mistaken belief that Juror M.B.’s implied bias based on his relationship to the prosecutor (as distinct from his actual bias as a result of that relationship) did not trigger mandatory removal under section 16-10-103(1)(b).”

In the appeal, prosecutors didn’t dispute that M.B. was covered by the statute, but argued there was no need to reverse the conviction because it was unclear whether M.B. deliberated. But the Court of Appeals disagreed and said their review of the record made it clear that M.B. did deliberate on the case.

Letecia Stauch wins new murder trial after appeals court finds juror biased

The Colorado Court of Appeals ordered Letecia Stauch's conviction for the murder of her 11-year-old stepson overturned.

www.courttv.com