Eleventh Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley (Screenshot from KRDO/YouTube)
First-degree murder charges were dropped against a man in Colorado accused of fatally shaking a 10-month-old boy after a judge ruled that the beleaguered prosecutor disparaged the 22-year-old defendant in a TV news report.
Fremont County District Court Judge Kaitlin Turner ruled that 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley’s actions “reflect knowing and intentional outrageous government conduct” in dismissing the case against William Henry Jacobs, accused in the death of baby Edward Hayes on May 21, 2023. Child abuse charges against the mother, Brook Crawford, were dropped earlier.
“Thus the Court infers and finds that those statements were made to specifically prejudice Mr. Jacobs and co-defendant Brook Crawford,” the order said, the Cañon City Daily Record reported. “To the extent that any statements were more specific to Ms. Crawford, they implicate and impact Mr. Jacobs. DA Stanley’s comments undermined the public’s respect for the judicial process. Because there is no legitimate purpose for making these statements, the Court finds the District Attorney’s actions to be shocking to the universal sense of justice and the standards and presumptions on which our criminal justice system.”
Law&Crime reported about Stanley’s interview with KRDO, in which she made “very blunt” extrajudicial statements on camera after a court hearing in the case.
The case stems from the death of baby Edward from blunt-force head trauma in May 2023, after being found in a “filthy” room at a Motel 6 in Cañon City, where the couple had been living for months after losing their home in a fire.
Jacobs, who’d been caring for the baby while Crawford worked at the motel’s front desk, allegedly told investigators the baby “went stiff and began making gargling noises” as he changed the baby’s diaper, according to a copy of the affidavit posted by the local FOX21 News affiliate.
Jacobs also allegedly told investigators more, at one point, saying he hit the baby’s head on a bathroom door frame as he took him to throw up in the toilet, the Daily Record reported.
Citing documents, local ABC affiliate KRDO reported Jacobs allegedly told police that he disciplined the boy the way he disciplined his dog and “demonstrated throwing his dog, but used an infant-sized doll to demonstrate lightly throwing [Edward] onto the bed.”
After DA Stanley went on local TV news, the defendants’ attorneys filed motions asking the court to dismiss the charges. Jacobs’ public defender said this past March that the DA’s comments were an attempt “to weaponize the press against Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Crawford,” the newspaper reported.
Stanley said she thought her comments were “off-the-record” even though she was miked and the camera was on, KRDO reported.
The dismissal comes amid multiple investigations into the District Attorney’s Office.
As Law&Crime reported in February, she and two prosecutors in her office involved in the prosecution of Barry Morphew, a man accused of killing his wife, allegedly engaged in misconduct when they withheld evidence and investigated the judge after unfavorable rulings.
Stanley faces a disciplinary on June 10. Stanley has denied the complaints against her.
Law&Crime’s Matt Naham and David Harris contributed to this report.
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