Colorado Court: Error Led To Release Of Prison Chief Slaying Suspect About 4 Years Early

The man suspected of killing Colorado’s chief detention officer was out of prison because of a clerical error.

Court administrators acknowledged the error in a statement Monday. They said that in 2008, Evan Spencer Ebel pleaded guilty to assaulting a prison guard. He was supposed to spend four additional years in prison.

A court clerk failed to note that the sentence was supposed to be served after the one Ebel was already serving. As a result, prison records showed it should run at the same time as the 8-year assault sentence Ebel was already serving. He was released Jan. 28.

Ebel was killed in a shootout in Texas on March 21. He used the same gun that was used to kill prisons chief Tom Clements days earlier.

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.