{"id":51257,"date":"2020-10-01T19:36:04","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T01:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/das-office-disqualified-from-prosecuting-bayfield-child-sex-assault-case\/"},"modified":"2020-10-02T01:36:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T01:36:04","slug":"das-office-disqualified-from-prosecuting-bayfield-child-sex-assault-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/das-office-disqualified-from-prosecuting-bayfield-child-sex-assault-case\/","title":{"rendered":"DA\u2019s Office disqualified from prosecuting Bayfield child sex assault case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The 6th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office, overseen by Christian Champagne, has been disqualified from prosecuting a Pagosa Springs man accused of child sex assault. A judge said Champagne hasn\u2019t demonstrated he can remove himself from the case, in which he has a conflict of interest. The case will instead be prosecuted by the 7th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The 6th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office has been disqualified from further prosecuting a Pagosa Springs man accused of child sex assault after District Attorney Christian Champagne broke a policy that said he was not allowed to be involved in or comment about the case.<\/p>\n

Rodney Keller, 54, was arrested in June 2018 for alleged sex assault on a child, and since, two trials in October 2019 and August 2020 resulted in mistrials after a jury could not unanimously decide whether to convict<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Keller\"
Keller<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In September 2018, Keller\u2019s defense attorneys filed a motion to disqualify the 6th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office after it came to light Champagne had represented Keller as a public defender in an older case in 2008.<\/p>\n

In the 2008 case, court records show Champagne was Keller\u2019s public defender for \u201capproximately four weeks.\u201d Ultimately, Keller pleaded guilty to the charge, sex assault on a child.<\/p>\n

Champagne apparently did not remember Keller, court records show, but as soon as he became aware of the situation, he vowed to not be involved in the case, and the court denied the motion to disqualify his office from prosecuting the case.<\/p>\n

The 2008 case was used as evidence in Keller\u2019s most recent case.<\/p>\n

After Keller\u2019s mistrial in August, his second one, it came to light Champagne had a conversation about the trial with one of the prosecutors on the case. And, he later testified in court he had a few \u201cmorale-building\u201d conversations with attorneys.<\/p>\n

Then, Keller\u2019s defense attorneys \u2013 Heather Little and Kenneth Pace \u2013 took further issue with Champagne for making comments about the case to The Durango Herald<\/a> as part of two separate articles published after the August mistrial.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe in the righteousness of this case, and although we wish the jury had reached a final verdict, I am inspired by the strength and courage of the victim and proud of the effort that we put forth in trying to get justice on her behalf,\u201d Champagne was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

Champagne said Wednesday he was unable to comment.<\/p>\n

Little also declined to comment Wednesday.<\/p>\n

At a court hearing this week, Champagne testified his comments to the Herald<\/em> were broad in nature, and that while he had brief conversations about the mistrials, no specifics were discussed nor was he consulted about matters in the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t consult with the attorneys involved in the case,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of those tasks and duties are assigned elsewhere. \u2026 I\u2019m not involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecution of the Keller case has been led by Assistant District Attorney David Ottman and Deputy District Attorney-Appellate Sean Murray.<\/p>\n

Ottman, testifying, said he asked Champagne to not make public comments to the media, but ultimately, he does not have supervisory authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have rather Mr. Champagne had not made those comments,\u201d Ottman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a tricky spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

District Judge Todd Norvell, overseeing the case, ruled Wednesday to disqualify the District Attorney\u2019s Office from further prosecuting the case, which was set to go to trial for a third time in November.<\/p>\n

In his order, Norvell wrote that while Champagne testified he does not remember any confidential information from Keller\u2019s 2008 case, there remains a risk of disclosures. A \u201cscreening policy\u201d to keep Champagne removed from the case \u201cwas not strictly followed,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Champagne\u2019s public statements appear on their face in at least some respects to contradict his assurances that he has been properly screened from involvement in this case,\u201d Norvell wrote.<\/p>\n

Norvell said Keller is \u201cunlikely\u201d to receive a fair trial from the 6th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe facts of this case, including public statements of Mr. Champagne related to his former client\u2019s current case, certainly affect the appearance of fairness and public trust and confidence in the criminal justice system,\u201d Norvell wrote.<\/p>\n

The case has now been transferred to the 7th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office in Montrose. Calls to the office were not returned, so it is unclear if the office intends to retry the case.<\/p>\n

According to authorities, Keller sexually assaulted a child at a former girlfriend\u2019s friend\u2019s house in early June 2018 in Bayfield. When questioned by authorities, he denied the allegations. Keller was arrested June 20, 2018.<\/p>\n

Keller was a registered sex offender, according to authorities. He was previously arrested in 2008 after being recognized at the Albertsons parking lot in Durango after appearing on \u201cAmerica\u2019s Most Wanted\u201d for sexual assault on a child in 2008, a charge to which he pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christian Champagne broke policy after being told to stay out of case<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1078,133,168,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-51257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-6th-judicial-district","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51257","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=51257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51257"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=51257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}