Widow of City Attorney to File Suit Blaming DA for Suicide
The widow of former Denver city attorney Larry Manzanares plans to sue the district attorney who investigated her husband, saying the investigation and a press conference contributed to his suicide.
Peggy Montaño has filed a letter of intent to sue District Attorney Scott Storey, the Denver Post reports. Storey filed three felony charges against Monzanares earlier this year for theft of a laptop computer and filed an affidavit that said investigators had recovered pornographic files being analyzed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“Statements regarding images sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had no legal or factual basis and implied that Judge Manzanares possessed child pornography,” the letter says. “The National Center responded that none of the images were included in its database of children.”
Montaño told the New York Times that Storey’s actions “were done to humiliate Larry. They contributed to the contravening of his right to privacy and destroyed his right to due process.”
Storey announced charges of theft, embezzlement and evidence tampering at a June 13 news conference. Manzanares, a popular former judge, had told colleagues he bought the computer from a man near the Denver City and County Building and didn’t know it was stolen. He committed suicide a little more than a week after charges were announced.
Storey has said he held the news conference because of intense media interest in the case, and he was trying to be open with information to avoid the appearance of favoritism.
The suit seeks $10 million in damages for invasion of privacy, outrageous conduct, intentional infliction of emotional distress and wrongful death. Montaño says she will donate any recovery to a scholarship for Latino college students.
