COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Charges against Ex-El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa and former Undersheriff Paula Presley have been dismissed, closing the book on a prosecution that rocked El Paso County.
The Colorado Springs Gazette reports that Fourth Judicial District Judge Larry E. Schwartz issued the orders Monday afternoon, 11 days after prosecutors requested the cases be dropped.
Prosecutors petitioned to dismiss all charges after back-to-back mistrials for Maketa in July and February failed to obtain any convictions on wide-ranging allegations of abuse of power.
Maketa and Presley were indicted on nine counts each in May 2016. Maketa had left office five months earlier amid allegations that troubled his final term.
Prosecutors said they would be unlikely to prove the case because Maketa's juries acquitted him of multiple counts, limiting the scope of evidence for a new panel.