Dan Bishop appeared remotely in court on Wednesday, Oct. 23, from the confines of the Montrose County Jail, represented by Daniel Lavrisha, Deputy State Public Defender, for the filling of charges.
Then, Judge Kurt M. Beckenhauer presided over the hearing.
The prosecution consisted of Seth Ryan, District Attorney for the Seventh Judicial District, and Jessica Waggoner, the assistant DA. The prosecution filed a “motion for time extension to file charges,” scheduled for Oct. 28, “in order to review the information from the multiple law enforcement agencies.”
It suggests some new evidence or discovery might be revealed.
Lavrisha, though, submitted an objection to that delay of filing charges. The objections state that the body of Dale Williams has never been found. It continues that Bishop has already been questioned, and many of the witnesses that were previously questioned are now deceased.
Additionally, it states Colorado Bureau of Investigations has waited 25 years to arrest Bishop, though he’s lived openly in the West End this whole time.
“The affidavit does not recite any recently-discovered physical evidence,” the document states.
It continues that many people have spoken to authorities claiming Bishop’s innocence in the last 25 years, but some of those people are also now deceased; others are now elderly with limited time left.
“Here, undersigned counsel cannot arrive at a proper understanding of the case without seeing the discovery,” the objections states. “There is no obvious reason to delay all disclosure, as reports have been in law enforcement’s possession for nearly 25 years. Given the natural tendency of memories to fade and for documents to be lost over time, there is no reason to delay the disclosure of discovery in this matter due to a delay in filing of charges."
The document references the likelihood that the prosecution might be waiting to release a discovery until charges are filed. It concludes by stating that the defense must be able to “preserve the evidence of Mr. Bishop’s innocence” and that they lose that ability if the district attorney is “permitted to delay disclosing discovery.”
Another document from the defense, the “Motion Requesting Disclosure Without Any Further Delay,” states that nobody can prove that Williams is dead, let alone murdered, and that some people have claimed to see the missing person in the last 25 years.
Furthermore, it states Bishop has no criminal record and that after multiple interrogations, Bishop has maintained his innocence. It states Bishop has passed polygraph tests in the past.
It also adds that the prosecution is looking to hold “somebody responsible,” in order to bring closure to Williams’ daughters.
The defense requested that any evidence be disclosed by Oct. 25, before the weekend.
As of press time, it appeared that a “felony complaint” was filed on Oct. 25 by the District Attorney’s office. The contents of the felony complaint were not made public. The case was docketed for Tuesday, Oct. 29, for the "return of filing of charges.”
