COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — An El Paso County woman convicted of murdering her 11-year-old stepson in 2020 may get a new trial after the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday morning that a juror seated for her trial was biased.
Letecia Stauch was convicted in 2023 of murdering her stepson Gannon Stauch in 2020. The Colorado Court of appeals court issued a 2-1 ruling stating the trial judge should have dismissed a juror whose son-in-law was a deputy district attorney in the office of District Attorney Michael Allen, who tried the case.
Jeremy Loew, a defense attorney in Colorado Springs was not surprised by the ruling.
“This is not a surprise to members of the defense bar, the criminal defense bar in Colorado Springs, A majority of the criminal defense bar that followed this case were almost certain that this ruling was going to come down,” Loew said.
Stauch’s attorney challenged the juror to the judge, Gregory Werner. Werner did not dismiss the juror.
In the ruling, a transcript from court reported Werner said “I don’t think it’s a statutory cause, and I didn’t hear anything else about that fact creating an issue or conflict or something else.”
“The case law is very clear,” Loew said, “no family member of the district attorney's office can serve on a jury. In this case, the father-in-law of one of the jurors.”
There is a law in Colorado that says a relative of an attorney on a case within the third degree whether by blood, adoption, or marriage does have an implied or actual bias. An attorney can say they believe the relative can be impartial.
If an elected District Attorney is trying a case, which District Attorney Michael Allen did, then it extends to all attorneys working under the DA. The appellate judges referenced a decision from People v Macrander (1992) for that case.
“Oftentimes, there's subconscious bias that you can't put aside, and when one of your family members is employed by the prosecutor in the case, of course, there's going to be bias, and it can't be just kind of rehabilitated or pushed pushed away,” Loew said.
When Loew found out about the judge’s decision not to dismiss, it didn’t quite add up for him.
“Why? There were hundreds and hundreds of prospective jurors. Why not excuse just this one challenge for cause?” Loew said.
All three appeals judges agreed the judge should have dismissed the juror, but one dissenting judge argued Letecia Stauch waived her right to appeal the juror's bias.
“I think this is a surprise, anytime you have a case that of this magnitude that's overturned, I think it surprises the public,” Dan May, former District Attorney for the 4th Judicial District which includes El Paso County said, “in particular, this is being decided on some very technical issues on how to use challenges to a jury, that's also a surprise in this case too.”
Attorneys can challenge jurors “for cause” or with a “peremptory” challenge. A challenge for cause includes a specific law demonstrating bias or a conflict of interest. A peremptory challenge is discretionary, often attorneys can dismiss for just about any reason.
"By the way it was argued and by the way it's talked about in the briefs, somebody challenged this juror for cause but didn't cite the statute, and the prosecution didn't cite the statute, nor did the judge. So it appears to me that nobody in that courtroom was aware this was in the statute," May said.
The dissenting appellate judge argued that Stauch’s attorneys waived the right to dismiss the juror. According to the ruling, attorneys had 16 discretionary challenges. Stauch’s legal team dismissed seven jurors it had previously challenged the judge for cause that the judge did not dismiss, there were nine other jurors dismissed under the peremptory challenge.
The dissenting judge argued because this juror was not dismissed in that process, they waived the right to appeal.
The other two appellate judges said in the ruling, “the law does not require criminal defendants to use peremptory challenges to preserve an unsuccessful challenge for cause” and that a reversal of the conviction is required.
"Does the defense have to use a preemptory challenge on somebody that they've asked the judge to remove for cause? The majority says you don't have to and it's overturned. The dissent says you do have to and because you didn't, the conviction stands," May said.
In a high profile case like Stauch's, Loew said the community impact is something that also just didn't make sense to defense attorneys like himself.
"We're gonna put the community through another pretty horrendous trial, we're going to put the taxpayers through another round of tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, in costs. Why not just excuse the juror? Err the side of caution," Loew said.
News5 spoke with Gannon Stauch’s parents Thursday, they declined to go on-camera as they’re processing the news. Gannon’s father, Al Stauch provided the following statement:
"After hearing the news today about the decision by the court of appeals, I am truly torn by the emotions of potentially having to repeat this process. My resolve, however, has never been greater, my desire for justice has never waivered and most importantly my love for Gannon will never fail. I am reminded daily that Gannon is standing next to God in Heaven and together looking down on all of us. As Pastor Paul and my momma recommended so many times throughout this process, let’s go to the Psalms. I declare Psalm 23 over my family, all of the attorneys on this case and everyone who has shown love and support for Gannon. The end result will be the same and although we do not wish to journey this path again, we stand with those who will handle this case and believe whole heartedly in their ability to finish this once and for all."
Stauch will remain in prison as the process gets underway to determine if the Colorado Supreme Court will hear the case. If the Supreme Court upholds the Appeals Court ruling, Stauch will return to the El Paso County Jail and a new trial will take place.
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