UPDATE: Response for Progressive Prosecutor Beth McCann’s office posted below.
SAY HIS NAME: LEE KELTNER (photo courtesy of Suzan Keltner)
Self-described “Progressive Prosecutor” Beth McCann, the district attorney of Denver, campaigned on a promise to “keep our city safe and provide equal justice for all,” “to rebuild trust” and “to keep open lines of communication.”
Bullcrap.
McCann’s syrupy sweet talk is a sick, twisted and deadly crock. The Mile High City’s homicide rate is at a record high; aggravated assaults are skyrocketing. COVID lockdowns decimated local businesses, but roving “homeless” agitators took over downtown Denver and turned it into a riot-friendly, drug-addled, violence-wracked empire. McCann vindictively prosecuted besieged motorist Jennifer Watson, who was attacked by George Floyd rioters blocking downtown streets, instead of prosecuting the thugs; a jury acquitted her on McCann’s most overblown charges.
As many law-abiding citizens and I learned the hard way in July 2020, you can’t hold a “Back the Blue” rally downtown in Civic Center Park without getting ambushed and beaten bloody while cops stand by and do nothing. And as more patriots learned just a few months later in October 2020, you can’t peaceably assemble to support law and order without the risk of getting harassed by professional agitators, stalked by leftist media and killed. Last week, just as the high-profile case involving the assassination of Colorado patriot and cowboy hat-maker Lee Keltner was headed to trial after a 17-month delay, Progressive Prosecutor Beth McCann dropped murder charges against Matthew Dolloff, the Occupy Wall Street/antifa/Black Lives Matter sympathizer who fraudulently and illegally posed as a “security guard” for liberal local news station KUSA-TV (“9News”) before shooting Keltner in the face at point-blank range with a gun that the news station denies knowing he was carrying.
After initially charging Dolloff with second-degree murder, Progressive Prosecutor McCann has now magically determined that “we are not able to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” She will move to drop all charges at a pretrial conference next Monday and splattered the news across the local media before all members of Keltner’s immediate family had been notified.
So much for rebuilding “trust” and those “open lines of communication.”
“Lee’s life mattered,” his mom, Carol Keltner, told me this week. “The family is devastated” by McCann’s shocking decision. “There will be no justice for my son,” she lamented. She is urging Coloradans to join her daughter and Lee’s sister, Suzan, this coming Monday, March 21, at 10 a.m. at the Denver Courthouse on 520 W. Colfax Ave. for a peaceful rally in Lee Keltner’s name. Suzan Keltner told “Denver in Decay” documentarian and KNUS radio talk-show host Steffan Tubbs that the DA’s office had initially informed her family last fall that the prosecution was “in essence, a slam dunk case.”
What changed? Well, just like the “science” now tells the COVID-19 tyrants that masks and lockdowns are no longer necessary in the midst of a heated political campaign season, the “law” now tells McCann that Lee Keltner’s murder was not murder — despite her office failing to interview key witnesses about what they believe was a coordinated ambush involving Dolloff, BLM radical Jeremiah Elliott and 9News producer Zack Newman.
Lee’s friend and witness to his murder, Steven Wright, calls KUSA’s activist journalists “the 9News hit team” and told me he vows he “will not stand down” until the whole truth of Keltner’s death is exposed. The station has a history of fomenting hatred against conservatives, including mocking those of us attacked at the July 2020 Back the Blue rally, and sneering at and smearing those who attended John “Tig” Tiegen’s peaceful October 2020 “Patriot Muster,” where attendees were harassed by antifa and BLM agitators as they departed — up to and including the moment Lee Keltner was stalked by Elliott, with Dolloff and Newman trailing nearby, while cameras rolled.
NEW PICS: My friend @RANDALLONRADIO sent me screengrabs from video he took of Dolloff & @9news @zacknewsman shadowing shooting victim Lee Keltner as he was being targeted by the BLM/BGM instigator who provoked confrontation right before #denvershooting. I added labels. /13 pic.twitter.com/bYL5qIGrAz
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) October 12, 2020
Elliott was captured on video running from the murder scene, gloating about “one less white supremacist” and “f—- yeah, right in the f—-ing dome.”
Reminder: @joeycamp2020 ‘s video of man gloating about #LeeKeltner murder – the man who screamed “one less white supremacist” & “f**k yeah, right in the f***ing dome” — matches up w/Jeremiah Elliott. He had put on his camo vest, grabbed his bag & bolted from the scene. /5 pic.twitter.com/g7bg1cFCl7
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) October 14, 2020
Wright left several unreturned messages with the DA, informing them that, “You don’t have all the facts. This entire ambush was around a violent episode that was premeditated. Once the cameras came out, Elliott went full idiot. This was exactly 9News’ objective. Depose me.”
“We believe Lee was targeted,” sister Suzan told YouTube podcaster Madyson Marquette last week. But after “begging and pleading” with prosecutors to move forward, Suzan Keltner was told McCann’s office would not let a jury of Lee’s peers hear the evidence.
What changed? Tubbs told me: “Several witnesses have told me that though they made themselves available, they were never interviewed by police or the DA’s office. Denver District Attorney Beth McCann is a disgrace to her profession. She caved likely due to media attorneys and fear of being canceled. … This could have been delivered to a grand jury. Dolloff should have at minimum faced a jury of his peers. Let them decide. … I hope Monday’s rally sends a loud (peaceful) shock wave to the idiots in downtown Denver.”
And a warning for the rest of law-abiding America: Beware the Progressive Prosecutor who delivers “justice” for some, retribution against patriots, cover for media propagandists, and a Third World hellhole to the taxpayers who fund her paychecks.
***
After my column deadline, the Denver DA’s communications director Carolyn Tyler responded to my questions. My response to her non-response is posted here as well.
Hello,
I am a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist on deadline with questions regarding the DA’s decision to drop charges against Matthew Dolloff.
ORDER IT NOW
1) Did the DA’s office interview witness Steven Wright before making its decision?
2) How many total witnesses did the DA’s office interview before making its decision?
3) Why hasn’t the DA’s office answered Wright’s phone calls the past week?
4) Will HALO camera video from the day of the murder be made available to the press and public?
One more question:
What will happen to the issue regarding potential criminal action against Dolloff, Pinkerton, 9News, or any other entity that hired or deployed Dolloff as an unlicensed security guard?
*
Tyler’s response:
Hello Michelle,
Thank you for your inquiry. As part of conducting a thorough investigation into this incident, Mr. Wright was one of more than two dozen witnesses – including members of law enforcement – who were interviewed or from whom written statements were taken. The actions of Mr. Keltner, just before he was shot, were very threatening. Mr. Keltner slapped Mr. Dolloff in the face while holding a can of bear spray and made comments that clearly indicated his intention was to cause injury, or worse. Under Colorado law, a person has an affirmative right to use deadly force in self-defense or in defense of others if that person reasonably thinks using less force is insufficient and reasonably believes he or someone else faces an immediate threat of being seriously hurt or killed. There is no duty to retreat under our state law. In line with our ethical obligations, we cannot overcome the legal justifications of self-defense and defense of others and are unable to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt which is why we will ask the court to dismiss this case.
I suggest you contact the Denver City Attorney’s Office for help regarding the Tweets included in the Colorado Peak Politics article you sent. Our office will not pursue any additional charges.
Regards,
Carolyn
*
My reply:
Thanks. You missed my deadline, but I will update my website article to include your partial response.
I await your responses to these questions:
3) Why hasn’t the DA’s office answered Wright’s phone calls the past week?
4) Will HALO camera video from the day of the murder be made available to the press and public?
Moreover, with regard to your incomplete narrative about Mr. Keltner, you omit any reference to the menacing presence of Jeremiah Elliott, who threatened and harassed multiple peaceful attendees of the Patriot Muster rally (including making provocative racist and sexist comments and initiating physical confrontation) throughout the day — and who followed and shouted at Mr. Keltner and others while 9News Producer Zack Newman and fraudulent “security guard” Matthew Dolloff trailed Elliott.
Did your office interview any of the witnesses or victims of Elliott’s harassment and stalking? How many and which ones?
Were Newman and Dolloff questioned about their relationship with Elliott?
Did your office seek any and all communications between 9News, Dolloff, and Elliott before, during, and after the rally?
Did your office obtain any and all video shot by 9News of Elliott’s activities prior to and at the rally?
Best,
Michelle
Michelle Malkin’s email address is [email protected]
