August 16, 2012 07:21 PM UTC

Why Cops Should Never Lie

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Grand Junction Sentinel’s Paul Shockley with the latest update in the case(s) of Jared Wright, the GOP HD-54 candidate who resigned from the Fruita Police Department after allegations of chronic tardiness and (more importantly) dishonesty about his whereabouts.

Mesa County Judge Craig Henderson has issued a stay of sentence, delaying penalties he ordered in late June, in order to hear arguments for a new trial in an impaired-driving case resting on testimony from former Fruita police officer Jared Wright, the embattled Republican candidate for House District 54.

Rebecca Palmquist, 39, was sentenced to serve two years probation, 90 jails of suspended jail time, pay $600 in fines and complete 68 hours of alcohol-education classes after she was convicted of driving while ability impaired on June 20 by a six-person jury.

Palmquist refused to submit to chemical sobriety testing when she was pulled over by Wright last September, so the trial consisted largely of “Ms. Palmquist’s word against Officer Wright’s,” Deputy Public Defender Elsa Archambault wrote in a motion for a new trial.

Obviously we have no idea whether Ms. Palmquist had been drinking when she was stopped by then-Officer Wright last September. What we do know is that in the American adversarial justice system, especially in the absence of physical evidence, the credibility of the law enforcement officer whose word forms the basis of the charge is absolutely paramount.

When that credibility is called into question, of course defense attorneys jump into action.

A good bit of this “credibility” stuff also applies to state legislators, and like Wright’s predecessor Laura Bradford can tell you, sometimes it matters a lot. Even in a safe district…