Colorado 5K honoring slain prosecutor returns after COVID pause to raise money for justice initiatives
The Sean May Memorial 5K Walk and Run returned to Adams County this weekend, honoring a prosecutor who was shot and killed outside his Denver home 17 years ago.
The event, which began in 2009 but paused during the pandemic, marked its 12th year. May was 37 when he was killed in 2008 while returning home from work. His wife was six months pregnant with their first child at the time and he had just been promoted to chief deputy district attorney after serving almost seven years with the office.
Denver police told CBS News Colorado that May's death remains under investigation.
Nearly 40 people signed up for this year's 5K at Barr Lake State Park, including members of the Adams County Sheriff's Office and the Adams County District Attorney's Office. Among them was 17th Judicial District Attorney Brian Mason and several other prosecutors, public defenders, and judges.
"There are fewer and fewer people who are around, still working in the 17th Judicial District who knew and worked with Sean, so this day is particularly special for us to be together as friends and colleagues to honor his memory," Mason said. "It's certainly one of the biggest losses for all of us with Sean's murder; what the community has missed out on all these years since he's been gone. I'm so proud to stand next to these two judges because Sean wanted to be a judge and I think he would be on the Colorado Supreme Court right now if he was still with us."
Mason said that May cared about the entire criminal justice system, which is why the event raised money for the C. Vincent Phelps Self Help Resource Center and various initiatives of the 17th Judicial District that help people access legal services they may not otherwise be able to afford.
A 2022 report by the Colorado Access to Justice Commission found over 750,000 low-income Coloradans are eligible for free legal assistance. The report went on to find that about 75% of people in domestic relations cases in Colorado, 98% of defendants in county court civil cases, and nearly 40% of civil district court litigants in cases outside of family law don't have lawyers
"Sean May -- I never knew him, I never worked with him, but I actually work in the unit that he used to work in," said Stephanie Sickler, a deputy district attorney in the 17th Judicial District. "The money we're raising for access to justice is something near and dear to my heart, so I brought my whole team out, and my family and friends, to support that cause and hopefully one day find out what happened to Sean."
Mariana Vielma, a former deputy district attorney who worked under May who's currently a judge in the 17th Judicial District, drove the point home while honoring May's memory.
"Justice should be accessible for everyone in the community and the reality is there's not equity when it comes to being able to navigate the justice system," she said at the event. "He was an excellent chief, he was a good person, he was a model public servant who cared about doing the right thing. He was funny, very quirky, he loved showtunes, he could always make us laugh, he was kind and generous. I really respected that he would allow us to do the right thing and expected us to do the right thing."
