EL PASO COUNTY, CO — A judge dismissed contempt charges against former El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder and the department Wednesday morning.
The judge says there is no clear evidence that Elder or anyone in his office leaked sealed documents for a case involving the suspected gunman in the Club Q shooting.
Defense attorneys for the shooting suspect, Anderson Aldrich, had filed a motion claiming that Elder or someone in the department violated state law by leaking documents related to Aldrich's previous arrest prior to them being unsealed.
The attorneys argued Elder or someone in the office leaked records relating to a 2021 bomb threat case involving Aldrich.
Those records were sealed after the case was dismissed in August of last year. Under Colorado law, authorities are told to say the records do not exist.
Information contained in the sealed records appeared in media coverage prior to the December court hearing in which the records were unsealed. In today's ruling, the judge noted the lack of clear evidence of wrongdoing by the sheriff's department specifically and subsequently dismissed the motion to hold Elder in contempt.
Aldrich is scheduled to appear in court Friday for a motions hearing on the 2022 shooting at Club Q. Aldrich is currently facing 305 criminal charges in that case. District Attorney Michael Allen filed a motion earlier this week to add 12 new criminal charges to the case in connection with two victims who survived the shooting.
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