{"id":117670,"date":"2014-09-22T23:43:05","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T05:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/nowlin-responds\/"},"modified":"2014-09-22T23:43:05","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T05:43:05","slug":"nowlin-responds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/nowlin-responds\/","title":{"rendered":"Nowlin responds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Nowlin\"
Nowlin<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

GOP candidate Steve Nowlin has dismissed claims circulating about his \u201cdishonest reputation\u201d as politically motivated attacks aimed to \u201csmear his name\u201d in the run-up to the Montezuma County sheriff\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never perjured myself in testimony, in writing or in anything else,\u201d Nowlin told The Cortez Journal.<\/p>\n

During an hourlong interview with the newspaper on Aug. 25, Nowlin addressed charges from opponent Mike Steele and his supporters that he was dishonest or had committed perjury. He dismissed the opinions of three defense attorneys in a 2008 motions hearing as mere \u201caccusations.\u201d He said no charges of perjury were ever filed against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cA professional standards and internal investigation by the Colorado State Patrol cleared me of any wrongdoing,\u201d said Nowlin. \u201cPerjury is one of those things that will get you terminated in a blink of an eye, and it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t stoop to this,\u201d said Nowlin of his political critics. \u201cI never have. I never will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy life is an open book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowlin further stated that there was no basis to the attacks on his reputation, and described the 2008 hearing in question as efforts by a criminal defense attorney to \u201cplant seeds of doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond a reasonable doubt is how someone is convicted in this country,\u201d said Nowlin. \u201cThat\u2019s why defense attorneys attack witnesses and especially those peace officers that have collected the facts and the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organized crime and racketeering case in question was called \u201cOperation Four Corners,\u201d which involved an interstate drug\/theft ring. Nowlin said the operation resulted in 21 convictions under the Colorado Organized Crime Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of evidence was so enormous and the crimes were so egregious, that their defense was to bring in other defense attorneys to try and discredit me,\u201d said Nowlin. \u201cThat was it. I was the one on trial, not the suspects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowlin presented numerous professional awards and accolades for his investigation of the case. He said that he also received death threats.<\/p>\n

In regard to the \u201csnippets\u201d of information alluded to by political critics in the 2008 motions hearing, Nowlin wanted to remind voters that a jury convicted Jaydee Russell, and a judge sentenced him to 96 years in prison. A state appellate court has upheld the conviction and sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had done anything wrong, do you think any of this would have happened?\u201d Nowlin asked. \u201cNo way.\u201d<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Nowlin cleared in CSP investigation<\/h4>\n

The Colorado State Patrol cleared Steve Nowlin of any wrongdoing, including perjury, in connection to a 2008 organized crime case.
\n According to Colorado State Patrol internal affairs report 08-IA-041, Jaydee Russell filed a jailhouse citizens complaint against then-CSP investigator Nowlin on Sept. 9, 2008. Starting in 2004 and ending in 2008, Russell alleged that Nowlin abused his authority as a trooper with the CSP.
\n In Russell\u2019s handwritten complaint, mailed from the San Juan County Detention Center in Farmington to CSP officials in Denver, Nowlin was accused of posing as a special investigator with the U.S. Attorney General\u2019s Office; committing perjury more than two dozen times; threatening witnesses; fabricating an interview; illegally searching a vehicle without a warrant or probable cause; and illegally detaining a suspect.
\n The internal affairs investigation concluded that Nowlin\u2019s alleged perjury and abuse of power were \u201cunfounded,\u201d meaning all the \u201cfalse allegations\u201d were \u201cnot supported by facts.\u201d The investigation concluded on March 23, 2009.
\n tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018I have never perjured myself in testimony, in writing, or in anything else,\u2019 GOP candidate says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[308,60,774],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-117670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-local-elections","tag-montezuma-county","tag-political-candidates"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117670"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=117670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}