Ask Amy ❓
Jan. 8—The Colorado Department of Human Services has requested a four-month extension to complete an evaluation of the 2021 King Soopers shooting suspect following the defendant's plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. On Thursday, the court approved the Boulder County District Attorney's objection and ordered a representative of CDHS to appear in court this coming Friday to explain the delay.
The representative will be asked to explain the delay in assigning the evaluation to appropriate doctors, the delay in communicating any issue with the court's evaluation deadline and the justification for the requested 114-day delay from the court's deadline.
In a preliminary hearing on Nov. 14, the court set a Jan. 8 deadline for an evaluation to be completed. On Dec. 29, the CDHS filed a letter requesting the extension.
Ahmad Alissa, 24, has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder, 47 counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault, 10 counts of felony possession of a prohibited large capacity magazine, and 47 crime of violence sentence enhancers in connection with the shooting in March 2021.
Alissa is currently in custody on a $100 million bond and is scheduled for a three-week trial starting Aug. 12. He will have a weeklong motions hearing starting Aug. 5.
In the people's objection, District Attorney Michael Dougherty stated that following the evaluation the office contacted CDHS to "ensure that they were aware of the deadline for the required evaluation." According to the objection, CDHS did not communicate or share any concerns.
According to the objection, CDHS took until Dec. 11 to assign doctors to complete Alissa's evaluation — almost three weeks after Nov. 22 which the CDHS incorrectly stated as the date of the court issued evaluation. The court issued the evaluation order on Nov. 14.
According to the objection, part of CDHS's reasoning for the extension is the need to complete more than one interview with Alissa; however, the people argue that Alissa has remained "nearly silent about multiple interview attempts" by CDHS over the last two years.
"A further delay in this case predicated by the need for hypothetical interviews with Defendant on a topic he has historically refused to discuss would be devastating for the victims in this case," Dougherty wrote in the objection.
Dougherty also said the people provided CDHS with the discovery in the case, despite CDHS having it in their possession two years prior, when competency was initially raised. On Nov. 23, the prosecutors were contacted by CDHS asking for the password necessary to access the discovery, and in return the people provided the password and offered to assist CDHS in navigating the discovery to allow the department to complete the evaluation by the court issued timeline. According to the objection, the people did not hear from CDHS again.
On Oct. 6, Alissa was deemed legally competent and capable to proceed with trial. He has remained at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo for two years. The CDHS operates the hospital.
According to an arrest affidavit, police were called to the King Soopers at 3600 Table Mesa Drive at 2:40 p.m. March 22, 2021, for a report of an armed man who had shot a person in a vehicle in the store's parking lot and was inside the store.
Eric Talley, a 51-year-old Boulder police officer, was the first to arrive, and was shot and killed. Police said Alissa fired at other responding officers before one of them shot Alissa in the leg.
Alissa later surrendered to police. Officers found weapons and tactical body armor at the scene, according to the affidavit.
In addition to Talley, Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Teri Leiker, 51; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65, were killed in the shooting.
