September 29, 2010 06:03 PM UTC

Suthers' "Willie Horton" Looms Large in AG Race

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

Folks, we’ve been telling you for months that a scandal from Attorney General John Suthers’ time in the U.S. Attorney’s office, involving a felon transferred to Colorado with Suthers’ approval to work as an informant who instead starting killing people, was going to impact the race between Suthers and his Democratic challenger Stan Garnett–Garnett, ironically, being the prosecutor who finally put serial killer Scott Kimball away.

As FOX 31’s Julie Hayden reports, new developments are reinforcing our case:

FOX31 News has learned that the FBI has been back out to the former house of convicted serial killer Scott Lee Kimball, searching for evidence in other murder cases.

Sources say the FBI was on the Broomfield property in the past few months. The new information raises new questions as to what Attorney General John Suthers, who was US Attorney at the time, knew about the way his office and the FBI were handling Kimball, who was acting as a paid informant when at least four murders occurred…

Within days of being set free, Kimball killed Leann Emery. The next month, he killed Jennifer Marcum. A couple of months later, he was arrested on an out of state warrant for crimes committed there. Kimball played another get-out-of-jail card and told them he had information about Marcum’s murder.

FOX31 News has learned that Suthers’ team called –what sources describe as– a secret summit conference. It was held on June 20, 2003. The FBI, DEA, Denver Police and the top four people in Suthers’ office were there.

Insiders say Denver Police were skeptical, but Suthers’ office prevailed and once again Kimball was set free. [Pols emphasis]

Within the next few months, he killed Kaysi McLeod and his uncle, Terry Kimball…

Remember, this is the same case that Suthers, through a spokesman, insisted he had no “specific recollection” about. That was always very tough to believe, particularly when it emerged later how Suthers’ office continued to seal records related to the case long afterwards.

And if there is any truth to this new allegation of a “secret summit” between Suthers’ office and local authorities, where Suthers or his staff had to convince skeptical cops that Kimball should be set free again–after Kimball had in fact begun killing people? Are the voters seriously to believe that Suthers has “no recollection” of any of this? Probably not, but it’s starting to make a hell of a lot of sense why Suthers’ recollection of the matter is so uncharacteristically fuzzy.

Before this latest update, we already thought a really devastating TV spot was writing itself here. We’d say that the script for that spot just got significantly more chilling.