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Ten high-profile Colorado cases
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10. Ward Churchill v. University of Colorado -- The controversial professor grabbed the spotlight when he compared World Trade Center workers to a Nazi administrator. His comments, and subsequent firing from his tenured position, have refueled First Amendment Rights debates. His civil suit against the University of Colorado for wrongful termination should go to the jury next week.
9. United States v. Joseph Nacchio -- Former Qwest CEO convicted on 19 counts of insider trading. Nacchio was charged with falsely inflating the Qwest’s stock price long after he knew of the company’s troubles and before a flurry of stock sales which netted him nearly $39 million.
8. Bombing of Flight 629 - In 1955, a flight leaving Denver’s old Stapleton airport heading for Washington state exploded over Longmont and all passengers and crew were killed. John Gilbert Graham was convicted of placing a bomb in his the suitcase of his mother (who was a plane passenger). At the time, there was no statute making it illegal to blow up an airplane, so the prosecutor instead charged Graham with a single count of first degree murder. Graham was executed in 1957.
7. Murder of Kelsey Grammer’s sister Karen -- In 1975 after a botched robbery at a Colorado Springs Red Lobster, Freddie Glenn and two other men abducted Karen Grammer (sister of Kelsey Grammer), who worked at the restaurant. Glenn was afraid Grammer could identify them, so they took her back to his apartment and raped her repeatedly. She pleaded for her life, but Glenn stabbed her repeatedly and then abandoned her; she eventually bled to death. Kelsey Grammer has said his sister’s murder propelled him into drug and alcohol abuse.
6. People v. Kobe Bryant - Americans love their celebrity scandals, and Bryant’s case is no exception. Charged with sexual assault by a teenaged Vail resort employee, the married Bryant admitted to the sex but insisted it was consensual. In 2004, the case was dismissed when the accuser declined to testify.
5. People v. Alfred “Alferd” Packer -- Everyone loves a good cannibal story. Except, I guess, the ones being eaten. In 1874, Packer and his party became trapped by snow and members of his party started dying. Packer’s confession in the third person describes events:
Old man Swan died first and was eaten by the other five persons, about ten days out from camp; four or five days afterwards Humphrey died and was also eaten; he had about one hundred and thirty three dollars. I found the pocket-book and took the money. Some time afterwards while I was carrying wood, the Butcher was killed as the other two told me accidentally and he was eaten. Bell shot "California" with Swan's gun, and I killed Bell; shot him - covered up the remains, and took a large piece along.
4. People v. Robert Charles Browne - Convicted in 1995 of murdering Heather Dawn Church four years earlier, Browne recently pleaded guilty to the murder of 15-year-old Rocio Delpilar Sperry in a Colorado Springs apartment complex. In all, Browne has confessed to 48 murders, but only seven of these have been confirmed. Browne is serving two life sentences in Colorado.
3. Columbine school shooting -- On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their classmates and then killed themselves. Although the gunmen’s suicides prevented criminal charges from being filed in this case, there were civil cases filed in the horrific school shootings that killed 13 and wounded 23 people. The careful planning and execution of this deadliest high school massacre shocked the state and the nation.
2. U.S. v. Timothy McVeigh -- Before September 11, 2001, the deadliest act of terrorism on United States soil was Timothy McVeigh’s 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. It was deemed that McVeigh would be unable to get a fair trial in Oklahoma, so his case was moved to the United States District Court in Denver. McVeigh was convicted and, after he waived further appeals, was executed in June 2001.
1. Murder of JonBenet Ramsey -- This investigation has captivated the nation’s attention since JonBenet's 1996 murder. Recently, attention was refocused on the case when John Mark Karr was arrested as a possible suspect. Karr’s DNA, however, did not match the evidence found at the scene. In 2008, the Boulder District Attorney’s office formally cleared the parents of suspicion of JonBenet’s murder and apologized. The iconic image of this child beauty pageant contestant will continue to haunt many until the murder is solved.
So what do you think? Did I miss any cases you would have added to the list?
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