CO Lawyer Charged in Child-Witness Case

A longtime Denver criminal defense attorney has been charged with 11 felony counts in a case concerning the alleged intimidation of a child witness against his client in a prostitution case.

Charles "Chuck" Leidner, 64, was released on $6,000 bail after being arrested at his home yesterday and charged with seven counts of witness intimidation and four counts of witness tampering, reports the Denver Post.

Authorities accuse Leidner of, as the Post puts it, "making threats" in June to a 16-year-old female witness. He was representing a man accused of patronizing the witness in a 2006 child prostitution case, according to the newspaper.

Leidner declined comment but his lawyer, Gary Lozow, says it is not Leidner but authorities involved in the case who are at fault. "Chuck Leidner is an experienced attorney who has both prosecuted and defended individuals in the criminal justice system for over 38 years," Lozow said. "The accusations here involve egregious undercover efforts by the Douglas County Sheriff's office to intimidate a defense attorney who was doing his best to represent a client in a difficult case."