Leprino Foods CEO James Leprino leaves the Denver City and County Building on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022 (Justin Wingerter)
From claims of a government witch hunt to a prosecutor calling his own sentencing recommendation “a joke,” it was a colorful year in Denver-area courtrooms.
Here are five moments to remember.
A “witch hunt” against DaVita?
“What’s interesting is, this is very reminiscent of the Salem witch trials,” attorney Juanita Brooks told jurors at Denver’s federal courthouse on April 13. “But this isn’t Salem, Massachusetts; this is Denver, Colorado. And this isn’t 1692; this is 2022.”
To which Judge Brooke Jackson replied, “It was kind of clever. Let’s not call it a witch hunt anymore.”
The comments came during closing arguments in the Department of Justice’s case against the dialysis company DaVita and its former CEO Kent Thiry, who were charged with violating antitrust laws. The jury sided with the defendants, acquitting them on all counts.
When asked outside the courtroom if he agreed with Brooks that he was the victim of a DOJ witch hunt, Thiry told BusinessDen, “No comment.”
“Six years is a joke”
When it came time, on the last day of June, for Tyler Tysdal to be sentenced, Deputy District Attorney Isaam Shamsid-Deen asked for a six-year prison term, then criticized it.
“Six years is a joke for this kind of behavior,” the prosecutor told Judge Ericka Englert.
Tyler Tysdal is an inmate at the Delta Correctional Center. (Photo courtesy of the Colorado Department of Corrections)
Under a plea agreement between the Denver DA’s Office and Tysdal, six years was the maximum sentence and it’s what the judge ordered. But not before Tysdal compared himself to King Midas, claiming that everything he touched turned to gold, and said his “rock star” mentality warped his interactions with the investors he defrauded.
“It was an absolute mistake but it was driven by thinking I had the Midas touch,” he said.
“Which is kind of weird”
When attorneys and onlookers gathered in a Centennial courtroom on Oct. 21, the mood was somber. It was the first hearing since Steve Long, a well-respected trial attorney who had represented the Shotgun Willie’s strip club in a wrongful death case, died unexpectedly.
“Mr. Long passed away at Shotgun Willie’s, I guess, which is kind of weird,” his co-counsel Peter Middleton informed an Arapahoe County judge.
Judge Peter Michaelson agreed with Middleton that the Nov. 7 trial had to be moved to 2023 as a result of Long’s sudden passing. The next month, a settlement was reached.
A reclusive CEO speaks
James Leprino is famously private. Prior to Nov. 30, when BusinessDen photographed him leaving the Denver City and County Building, he had not been photographed in public since 1978.
On that same day, jurors heard a rare interview of the billionaire: a videotaped deposition in which he admitted pushing his brother and three nieces out of Leprino Foods and telling the nieces that their 25-percent share of the company “was worth zero” dollars.
Later that day, Judge Stephanie Scoville debated whether to declare a mistrial after a juror rolled her eyes and mouthed the words, “What the [expletive]” as a plaintiff testified.
Scoville declined to issue a mistrial and the jury sided with James Leprino the next week.
Casa Bonita v. the press
News outlets commonly use building plans to inform the public about new construction, usually in broad terms such as square footage. But renovations at Casa Bonita drew interest in small details this summer and unusual objections from the restaurant’s attorneys.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of “South Park,” purchased Casa Bonita in 2021. The restaurant is being renovated and the owners sued for a court injunction that prevents the city of Lakewood from releasing building plans to the media. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
After 9News reported on the renovation plans, Casa Bonita lawyer Jessica Smith convinced the station to remove some details from the article and convinced Jefferson County District Court Judge Randall Arp to temporarily block Lakewood from releasing the plans.
“We live in a different world than we did perhaps 20 or 30 years ago, with mass shootings occurring in concert venues and grocery stores and schools and bars and nightclubs and other public locations that are not necessarily infrastructure but certainly are targets,” Arp ruled.
“There is some merit to suggesting that certain information, such as where cameras are located and other security features are located, should not be readily accessible to those types of individuals,” the judge said at the end of a 25-minute hearing.
But after a 21-day restraining order expired in September, Casa Bonita dropped the case.
Leprino Foods CEO James Leprino leaves the Denver City and County Building on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022 (Justin Wingerter)
From claims of a government witch hunt to a prosecutor calling his own sentencing recommendation “a joke,” it was a colorful year in Denver-area courtrooms.
Here are five moments to remember.
A “witch hunt” against DaVita?
“What’s interesting is, this is very reminiscent of the Salem witch trials,” attorney Juanita Brooks told jurors at Denver’s federal courthouse on April 13. “But this isn’t Salem, Massachusetts; this is Denver, Colorado. And this isn’t 1692; this is 2022.”
To which Judge Brooke Jackson replied, “It was kind of clever. Let’s not call it a witch hunt anymore.”
The comments came during closing arguments in the Department of Justice’s case against the dialysis company DaVita and its former CEO Kent Thiry, who were charged with violating antitrust laws. The jury sided with the defendants, acquitting them on all counts.
When asked outside the courtroom if he agreed with Brooks that he was the victim of a DOJ witch hunt, Thiry told BusinessDen, “No comment.”
“Six years is a joke”
When it came time, on the last day of June, for Tyler Tysdal to be sentenced, Deputy District Attorney Isaam Shamsid-Deen asked for a six-year prison term, then criticized it.
“Six years is a joke for this kind of behavior,” the prosecutor told Judge Ericka Englert.
Tyler Tysdal is an inmate at the Delta Correctional Center. (Photo courtesy of the Colorado Department of Corrections)
Under a plea agreement between the Denver DA’s Office and Tysdal, six years was the maximum sentence and it’s what the judge ordered. But not before Tysdal compared himself to King Midas, claiming that everything he touched turned to gold, and said his “rock star” mentality warped his interactions with the investors he defrauded.
“It was an absolute mistake but it was driven by thinking I had the Midas touch,” he said.
“Which is kind of weird”
When attorneys and onlookers gathered in a Centennial courtroom on Oct. 21, the mood was somber. It was the first hearing since Steve Long, a well-respected trial attorney who had represented the Shotgun Willie’s strip club in a wrongful death case, died unexpectedly.
“Mr. Long passed away at Shotgun Willie’s, I guess, which is kind of weird,” his co-counsel Peter Middleton informed an Arapahoe County judge.
Judge Peter Michaelson agreed with Middleton that the Nov. 7 trial had to be moved to 2023 as a result of Long’s sudden passing. The next month, a settlement was reached.
A reclusive CEO speaks
James Leprino is famously private. Prior to Nov. 30, when BusinessDen photographed him leaving the Denver City and County Building, he had not been photographed in public since 1978.
On that same day, jurors heard a rare interview of the billionaire: a videotaped deposition in which he admitted pushing his brother and three nieces out of Leprino Foods and telling the nieces that their 25-percent share of the company “was worth zero” dollars.
Later that day, Judge Stephanie Scoville debated whether to declare a mistrial after a juror rolled her eyes and mouthed the words, “What the [expletive]” as a plaintiff testified.
Scoville declined to issue a mistrial and the jury sided with James Leprino the next week.
Casa Bonita v. the press
News outlets commonly use building plans to inform the public about new construction, usually in broad terms such as square footage. But renovations at Casa Bonita drew interest in small details this summer and unusual objections from the restaurant’s attorneys.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of “South Park,” purchased Casa Bonita in 2021. The restaurant is being renovated and the owners sued for a court injunction that prevents the city of Lakewood from releasing building plans to the media. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
After 9News reported on the renovation plans, Casa Bonita lawyer Jessica Smith convinced the station to remove some details from the article and convinced Jefferson County District Court Judge Randall Arp to temporarily block Lakewood from releasing the plans.
“We live in a different world than we did perhaps 20 or 30 years ago, with mass shootings occurring in concert venues and grocery stores and schools and bars and nightclubs and other public locations that are not necessarily infrastructure but certainly are targets,” Arp ruled.
“There is some merit to suggesting that certain information, such as where cameras are located and other security features are located, should not be readily accessible to those types of individuals,” the judge said at the end of a 25-minute hearing.
But after a 21-day restraining order expired in September, Casa Bonita dropped the case.
