Judges correct 124 sentences after early release of suspect in prison-chief slaying
Judges in Colorado have corrected 124 prison sentences for inmates and parolees after an error led to early release of a suspect in the slaying of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements.
The corrections were the result of a massive audit ordered after the early release of Evan Spencer Ebel, report the Denver Post and the Associated Press. The judges found 565 sentencing orders were correct and 124 were wrong, the stories say.
More cases are awaiting judicial review after the audit found 1,211 prisoners could have errors in sentencing documents that reduced their prison terms, the Denver Post says.
Ebel was already serving a prison term when he was sentenced to four years in prison for assaulting a corrections officer. The judge failed to indicate that the new sentence was to be served consecutively. A court clerk wrongly assumed the sentences were to be served concurrently and recorded the sentence that way.
Ebel was released from prison in January. He died in a police shootout days after Clement was killed in March. He is also a suspect in the shooting death of a pizza delivery man.
