Withholding Patrick Frazee arrest warrant affidavit violates rights, expert says
A district attorney’s efforts to withhold a document that lays out the case against the man they are accusing of killing Woodland Park mother Kelsey Berreth is a rare legal maneuver that may impinge on the suspect’s constitutional right of due process, legal defense experts said.
“To deny the whole (arrest) affidavit is highly unusual,” said Dan Recht, former president of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar and an expert on constitutional criminal law. “It puts the defendant at a substantial disadvantage. There are constitutional issues to consider.”
Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May has asked Judge Linda Margaret Billings Vela to allow him to withhold a copy of the arrest warrant affidavit from 32-year-old Patrick Frazee, who faces five murder charges in Berreth’s death including
two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of solicitation to commit murder.
May has declined to explain why he wants to withhold the arrest affidavit, saying the document has been sealed.
But a motion filed by his office Dec. 21 said disclosing the affidavit poses a serious risk of jeopardizing
the ongoing investigation and the safety of potential witnesses.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are scheduled to argue over the affidavit’s release at a hearing before Vela on Friday at the Teller County District Court in Cripple Creek. Frazee also faces a preliminary hearing Jan. 29.
Preventing Frazee from seeing the affidavit could hurt his defense because he would not be able to help his attorney in preparing his case, Recht said. He compared it to cases in which mentally ill defendants are incompetent and therefore unable to assist in their defense.
“That is very problematic. It’s Frazee who knows the facts of the case. The defense attorney can’t be effective if he can’t talk to his client,” Recht said. “The defense is in the dark, and it’s difficult for them to make good arguments.”
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