Court Orders Denver Police Department to Conduct Additional Records Search in Evidence Scandal Affecting 756 Criminal Defendants

PRESS RELEASE
Apr. 16, 2026 

DENVER – Today, a Denver District Judge ordered the Denver Police Department (DPD) to redo its public records search — finding she was “not satisfied that complete searches were accomplished” — and awarded attorney fees against the city in a case brought by Protect Ethical Prosecutors (PEP).

The case stems from PEP’s Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request for communications between DPD and the Denver D.A.’s office about a reported widespread failure to turn over evidence to 756 criminal defendants. The D.A. has called these “technical issues“, but these are discovery violations.

This is evidence the law requires to be handed over upon arrest. Many of these people had their cases closed without ever receiving it, and for them, it is now too late. We don’t know what was in those files, we don’t know whether it would have changed the outcome, and we don’t know what, if anything, the D.A. did to ensure these were truly just technicalities, because they won’t show us the records.

“This was swept under the rug from the beginning,” said Iris Eytan, Founder of Protect Ethical Prosecutors. “More than 750 people had their evidence buried. Then the city tried to bury the records about it. Today, a judge proved us right.”  

After DPD claimed it found no records responsive to PEP’s public records request, PEP sued. At a full evidentiary hearing, testimony revealed that DPD’s records custodian told PEP there were no matching records — when in fact there were.

The judge wrote that “a question remains in the Court’s mind” about whether the city ever conducted a complete search. She ordered a new search within 21 days.

“The city told us they had nothing,” said Eytan. “That wasn’t true. The government should not be able to hide the ball on public records requests.”

The public has a right to public records. When the city refuses to conduct a proper search, it is the court that must intervene — and that is exactly what happened here.

“We asked Denver to search for the records,” said Eytan. “A court just ruled those searches weren’t good enough — and ordered them to do it right. What are they hiding?”

“Not satisfied.” “A question remains.” – those were the judge’s words. In a courtroom, they mean: go back and do your job. For the hundreds of people who never received the evidence they were owed, they mean something more.

Protect Ethical Prosecutors will continue to pursue full transparency in this matter.

Denver swept 756 criminal cases under the rug. When we tried to find out what they knew, they swept those records under the rug too. A court just lifted the rug.