A Parachute, CO cop is being held in a Pitkin county jail on suspicion of sexual assault even though the incident allegedly occured in Garfield County. Kristopher Duncan, 25 faces an indeterminate sentence of 4 years to life for sexual assault as a Class 4 felony.
"Why he is in the Pitkin County Jail, that’s a question for someone else to answer. I suspect it’s for security reasons. Police officers are not the friend of other inmates and they can be treated harshly,” said 9th Judicial District Attorney Martin Beeson. Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario, whose agency handled the arrest, did not return phone messages seeking comment.
Jailers in Aspen said Duncan was on a “courtesy hold” but referred questions about the matter to Garfield County. He remained in Pitkin County Jail on a $7,500 bond Monday night. He is charged with class-four felony sexual assault, which carries a possible sentence range of two years to life in prison.
Parachute Town Administrator Robert Knight confirmed Duncan’s arrest and said the officer’s employment was terminated Friday “for violation of code of conduct and this incident (the sexual assault allegation) was related to it.” Knight said that Duncan was hired in February and was an officer in training. He declined to answer further questions.Knight also said that he and other high-level officials in Parachute were unaware that Duncan was being held in Aspen.
Prosecutor Gail Nichols gave only a sketchy detail of the assault, including the fact that the victim was a woman, not a girl, and that the attack took place April 18. More specific details were not forthcoming as of this time, and a heavily redacted arrest affadavit will be available for public inspection.
Duncan will make his next court appearence April 30 in Garfield County District Court. He is ordered to stay away from the victim in case he makes bond.
(Update 5-1-08)
Prosecutors have appointed a special prosecutor to avoid conflicts of interest when prosecuting a former law-enforcement oficer in the same county during yesterday's court appearence. Duncan was released on $7500 bond last week.
The alleged victim and a group of people including Parachute police officer Prince Whiting were at Duncan’s apartment playing video games late at night. Duncan is accused of making repeated unwanted advances and raping the woman after she was trying to sleep around 3 a.m., according to an arrest affidavit. The woman was afraid and didn’t try to fight him off because he was a police officer and a “really strong” ex-Marine, the affidavit says.The affidavit contains no information about statements from Duncan. It says a nurse conducted a rape examination and found no signs of trauma and was unable to determine whether the woman recently had sex.
The Grand River Medical Center reported treating a patient who reported being sexually assaulted by a police officer, and Duncan's preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 4.
(Update 6-5-08)
All charges against Kristopher Duncan have been dropped by the special prosecutor after she concluded that instead of rape, the April 17 incident was simply bad sex.
Tammy Eret, the chief Mesa County deputy district attorney who was brought in to handle the case, said she questions the credibility of the alleged victim. In a motion to dismiss the case, she outlined 22 concerns about the alleged victim’s credibility, and suggested the woman might have had consensual sex with the man, then regretted it.
Magistrate Lain Leoniak on Wednesday agreed to dismiss the case.Duncan hopes to return to law enforcement, and his attorney Greg Greer, of Glenwood Springs, is researching whether the City of Parachute can be sued.“I think the biggest thing was the embarrassment that I would even be accused of something like that, but I knew I didn’t do anything wrong.” The woman said she didn’t fight off Duncan because of his strength and his position as a police officer. She sent a text message to a friend saying she might have been raped, and reported the alleged incident to police. A hospital rape exam showed no sign of trauma.
Eret noted that the “victim” was 5’ 5 and 140 lbs while Duncan was 5’ 6” and 160 pounds, so there wasn’t much size difference.
“I knew it wasn’t true,” said friend Caryn Sigmon, of Rifle, who was at the apartment that night. She said she was “very shocked” when she learned the woman had accused Duncan of rape, and when Garfield County sheriff’s investigators never asked her for her account, she came forward. She accompanied Duncan at the hearing. Eret said that accounts which picture the woman flirting with Duncan and asking him to perform oral sex suggest that no sexual assault occurred.
“Simply saying ‘no,’ but then requesting oral sex” would suggest she consented, Eret wrote. Witnesses told investigators that the two were “flirting with each other, laughing, tickling and having a good time.”
Instead of leaving, they said, the woman went to sleep in Duncan’s bed and never called for help, even though Duncan’s roommate is also a police officer. Afterwards, they said, she slept in the same bed, wore Duncan’s sweatpants and sat in his lap. That would be unusual for a rape victim, Eret noted.“The interaction between the two … supports two people comfortable with each other and the acts that just occurred,” Eret wrote.
In a controlled call between the woman and Duncan, Duncan said the woman claimed to be playing “hard to get,” and that he would have stopped if she said no, but she never did. Eret also said that a rape victim would not have chosen to end up in the bed that the perp was sleeping.
“It would not matter how exhausted one may be — if they were just raped, the last place they would go would be to the bed where the crime occurred and the place where that person was sleeping.”
Credibility problems also occurred when the woman blamed a black guy for the rape even though Duncan was white.
The woman also apparently sent a text message to her boyfriend saying she had been raped by “a black guy,” although Duncan is white. That also cast doubts about her credibility, Eret said. Greer praised Eret’s decision to drop the case. “Our challenge now is just to restore his good reputation,” Greer said.
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