Child murder case against Colorado man, dropped after DA's interview, to be retried

The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that a criminal case against a man charged with murder in the death of a 10-month-old baby should be retried. The order reverses a district court judge's dismissal of the murder case after the then-district attorney made inflammatory comments in a television interview. 

The case against William Jacobs was dropped in June 2024, about a year after 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley was interviewed by Colorado Springs ABC affiliate KRDO about Jacobs's upcoming trial. Referring to Jacobs, Stanley said in that interview: "I'm going to be very blunt here. He has zero investment in this child. Zero. He's watching that so he can get laid. That's it. And have a place to sleep. I'm sorry to be that blunt, but honest to God, that's what's going on."

Because of those statements and other comments made about her office's investigation into, and later, the failed prosecution of Barry Morphew, at one time the primary suspect in the murder of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, Stanley was disciplined by the state. Stanley was ultimately disbarred, meaning she not only lost her job as DA but was banned from practicing law in Colorado until further notice. 

At roughly the same time Stanley was disbarred last year, Jacobs was released from jail.

Stanley's replacement, Jeff Lindsey, appealed to the state to seek a retrial of Jacobs soon after taking his position.

In Thursday's ruling, all three members of the Colorado Court of Appeals voted to reverse the district court's dismissal.

Judge Elizabeth L. Harris wrote the court's opinion and stated the court agreed that the dismissal of the case was not warranted by the "outrageous government conduct by the elected district attorney." Harris said:

"We do not condone Stanley's actions in this case. And while her conduct might be considered 'outrageous' in the ordinary sense, we conclude that it does not satisfy the stringent standard for finding outrageous government conduct as set forth in the case law. 

[W]hether Stanley engaged in conduct sufficient for Jacobs to establish a cognizable outrageous government conduct claim warranting the sanction of dismissal is distinct from whether Stanley's conduct violated ethical rules warranting disciplinary sanctions.  

In reaching our disposition, we expressly acknowledge the district court's concern that Jacobs's constitutional rights may have been impacted by Stanley's statements. Specifically, we share the court's concern that Stanley's statements disclosed possibly inadmissible information and may have heightened public condemnation of Jacobs, which could potentially affect the court's ability to impanel an impartial jury. And as the district court pointed out, changing the venue to remedy the government's improper conduct — over Jacobs's objection — may not serve the interests of justice. But as legitimate as these concerns are, they must be addressed at the appropriate time in the proceedings. Mechanisms exist to mitigate or remedy the court's concerns going forward.  

We reverse the order of dismissal and remand the case to the district court for reinstatement of the criminal complaint."

Ten-month-old Edward Hayes died on May 23, 2023. Two days earlier, Cañon City Police Department officers had been sent to a motel room where a baby was found unresponsive. A nurse staying at the motel told investigators she overheard an incident in a neighboring room. Seeing Hayes's condition, she called 9-1-1 and started CPR, according to an arrest report. 

Later, Hayes was flown by medical helicopter from the local hospital to Children's Hospital in Colorado Springs. It was there that he was pronounced deceased. 

Jacobs, then 21 years old, was believed by investigators to be the last person to have taken care of the baby. He was already in jail on a felony child abuse charge when Hayes died. Almost immediately, prosecutors added a first-degree murder charge against him.

The child's mother, and Jacobs's girlfriend at the time, 20-year-old Brook Crawford, was allegedly at work when police went to the motel room. Crawford was also charged at first with felony child abuse, but prosecutors pulled that back to a misdemeanor.

In January 2024, Crawford pleaded not guilty to that misdemeanor count and another misdemeanor for animal cruelty and was scheduled to go to trial. However, the proceedings were suspended, and the case has been in limbo for the last two and a half years. 

No new hearings for Jacobs or Crawford have been scheduled yet.