I spent three months in jail because a prosecutor hid evidence of my fiance’s suicide (Opinion)

Tragically in my fianc e took her own life What began as one of the most of heartbreaking devastating experiences of my life turned into an unending nightmare The police arrested me after I called because they supposed we had been arguing But then with scant inspection prosecutors directly charged me with murder and imprisoned me for days without bail A jury eventually determined me not guilty but only after my attorney learned a prosecutor purposefully withheld evidence exonerating me That may be unimaginable in America but it happened to me And when it did I learned the hard truth prosecutors unlike almost any other lawyer or professional enjoy absolute immunity meaning both the wrongly accused and casualties of crime have no recourse and prosecutors cannot be sued for the damage they cause I learned firsthand that when attorneys fail to fulfill their oaths of office just like a healthcare provider or police officer the consequences can be dire even life-ending This becomes even more egregious when that failure is purposeful yet not all attorneys are held equal under the law I was wrongly incarcerated and prosecuted even though the forensic pathologist refused to rule my fiance s death a homicide Only weeks after my arrest while I remained behind bars Denver s own chief deputy crime lab director and the lead Denver homicide detective advised the prosecutor of their opinions that the death was not a homicide but a suicide Even though the prosecutor knew this critical information that would have exonerated me the prosecutor purposefully withheld this information from myself and my defense organization for nearly months I was eventually acquitted only after these opinions were forcibly revealed in response to a court order Who was that prosecutor Chief Deputy Dan Cohen from the Denver District Attorney s office The judge clearly outraged issued a sanction allowing my lawyer to cross-examine the onlookers about their favorable opinions but otherwise faced no consequences His law license remained intact and his boss excused the behavior Imagine my outrage and disappointment when I read a new Denver Post article covering judges dismissing other cases in which Chief Deputy Daniel Cohen failed to disclose critical and favorable evidence to the accused In the preponderance up-to-date episode this was again not a clerical oversight or an isolated misstep In fact the judge in the episode ruled At this point in time I can t find that it s anything other than willful given the number of times this issue has been addressed with this particular counsel The Post article pointed out that there have been at least seven other discovery violations committed by the Denver District Attorney s Office since February of These are real Coloradan s lives on the line Yet the wrongly accused like myself have no recourse to hold prosecutors accountable This story shows that even when judges grow frustrated with prosecutors misconduct their tools are limited They can allow broader cross-examination or dismiss a circumstance but they cannot punish the prosecutor The repeated violations we see prove that these sanctions while appropriate do little to deter misconduct And with Mr Cohen still abusing his power five years after egregiously developing the rules in my scenario it s clear the Denver District Attorney s office isn t imposing serious discipline either Prosecutors are the the bulk powerful lawyers in America They decide who to criminally charge when and what crimes to allege whether to offer leniency what evidence to turn over and what sentence to pursue As I now personally understand they have an immense amount of power to impact the lives and families of both the guilty and the innocent Given this power you d expect prosecutors to be held to higher standards of accountability Instead the opposite is true Misconduct is brushed off as business as usual denied and excused at every turn and much of it never comes to light Even when caught red-handed prosecutors keep their jobs and their law licenses shielded from any liability for damage they cause In any other profession mine included as an architect such deliberate abuses would end a career Related Articles Stalked by an obsessed fan Fox meteorologist Kylie Bearse is frustrated by the justice system Man convicted of murder in shootings on Denver s South Platte River Trail Jokic s brother pleads guilty in viral gameday fight Denver DA s Office failed to disclose police records in as several as criminal cases Denver man gets years in prison for pimping in sex trafficking occurrence Cohen like other prosecutors who commit intentional misconduct are shielded entirely Like in Cohen s development they rarely face employment or bar discipline and they also can t be sued for the deliberate harm they cause I eventually went with my only recourse and filed a lawsuit against the City of Denver and the police force because unlike prosecutors they don t have unlimited immunity A judge unfortunately dismissed the event because ultimately it was the immune prosecutor and not the detective who could be held to answer to a jury for the alleged malicious prosecution and for the willful failure to disclose the favorable evidence Countless prosecutors do act with integrity But as this story makes clear absolute immunity has bred a values of impunity that leaves them above the very law they re meant to enforce But no one should be above the law When prosecutors break the rules justice breaks down People like myself suffer a foreseen wrongful conviction Our careers and families are destroyed our reputations are ruined and we suffer crushing financial loss At the same time casualties of crime are denied justice and finality The consequence is a system the community can t trust If Colorado is serious about restoring trust and protecting the rights of every Coloradan it must overhaul the law so prosecutors can in the end be held accountable Micah Kimball is a licensed architect and general contractor who designs and builds thoughtful spaces After a prosecution that derailed his career and life he now works with Protect Ethical Prosecutors to promote fairness and adjustment Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns editorials and more To send a letter to the editor about this article submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail