How the El Paso County DA can keep arrest affidavit for Club Q suspect secret

The Denver Gazette: The ability to take away a person’s freedom is one of the most serious powers held by a government. An arrest affidavit is a key document explaining to a judge — and the public — a law enforcement agency’s rationale for doing so.

But an open records law in Colorado allows agencies broad discretion to withhold criminal justice records, and it’s not uncommon for them to keep affidavits sealed in high-profile cases by citing an “ongoing investigation,” at least until prosecutors charge a suspect.  

The practice continued this week in the case of Anderson Lee Aldrich, the 22-year-old arrested on suspicion of killing five people and shooting 17 others in Club Q, a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ club, late Saturday night.

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