No charges will be filed against the officer involved in the January 14, 2006 fatal shooting of Roger Talbert near Alma, according to a determination letter issued by District Attorney Molly Chilson. The decision follows an investigation completed by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and submitted to the Eleventh Judicial District Attorney's office. In the District Attorney's conclusion, she states that the officer was "legally justified in using deadly physical force to defend himself and his fellow officer on January 14, 2006."
Chilson provides explanation of the Colorado laws regarding use of deadly force. The determination letter includes the following in legal analysis:
Under the laws of the State of Colorado, any person is justified in the use of physical force to defend himself or another from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of unlawful physical force by another person. Any person is justified in the use of deadly physical force only when that person reasonably believes a lesser amount of force would be inadequate.
Colorado peace officers share the right of self-defense afforded to ordinary citizens, and are granted additional authority to use reasonable force in effecting arrests or preventing escapes.
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The legal analysis goes on to say:
An officer's use of deadly force is evaluated objectively and is "judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight." Whether or not the use of deadly force was justified is determined by what was reasonable for the officer to do given what he saw and knew at the moment. Thus, in order for the state to prove criminal charges against a peace officer who uses deadly physical force to defend himself, or another, in the line of duty, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer either did not really believe he was in imminent danger or, if he did really believe it, that his belief was unreasonable in light of all available facts and circumstances.
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The details of the CBI investigation, as summarized by the District Attorney, reflect time frames and events much as previous news releases generally described them, with some additional detail now made available. Reports of a traffic stop of Mr. Talbert following an incident at the County Clerk's office include witness accounts describing the behavior of Talbert on that occasion. According to the investigation summary, the officers on scene at the traffic stop on January 13, 2006, report that Talbert came out of his vehicle with a shotgun. Officers commanded Talbert to drop the weapon. Talbert swept the muzzle of the shotgun toward the officers and yelled, "shoot me, shoot me, that's all you want to do to me." Talbert then walked some distance away from the officers, still holding the shotgun, and sat down on a rock. Talbert then racked the slide of the shotgun, loading a round into the chamber, and took off walking again. Officers followed Talbert and continued to demand that he drop the gun, but they lost sight of him at the top of a wooded hill. A multi-agency search was then initiated.
On the night of January 14th, Sheriff's Department personnel, including the S.W.A.T. Team, went to Talbert's home on Quartzville Road near Alma to execute a search warrant obtained earlier that day. As the officers moved into position, forming a perimeter around the property, Talbert exited the house in the dark and began moving in the direction of two of the officers, apparently unaware of their presence. Talbert then ignored an order from the officers to show his hands and drop to the ground. The investigation concludes that, at that point, Talbert did attempt to wrest an M-14 from the hands of a S.W.A.T. officer. During the struggle, the weapon discharged, firing a round that hit a propane tank on a nearby camper. Fearing that Talbert would gain control of the weapon, a second officer fired at Talbert, striking him in the right buttock.
Other officers responded to the scene, handcuffed Talbert, applied a dressing to his wound, and called for an ambulance. Despite the prompt arrival of the ambulance and the efforts of emergency medical personnel, Talbert did not survive and was pronounced dead at 8:57 p.m.
According to the report, the autopsy performed on the body on January 16, 2006, determined the cause of death to be multiple vascular and visceral lacerations and bony fractures due to a penetrating gunshot wound to the trunk.
Because of the nature of this incident, Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener called for the independent investigation by outside agencies. "I am sorry, as we all are, for the loss of life, but I'm proud of the officers," Sheriff Wegener said. "I would like to thank the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the District Attorney's office for their professional handling of this incident investigation."
Undersheriff Monte Gore responded to the findings of the investigation saying, "We do agree with the decision of the District Attorney and felt from the beginning that the officers involved had acted correctly." All Sheriff's Department personnel involved regret that the incident resulted in death, Gore said, but are also relieved that no other citizens or officers were injured during the two-day series of events.
