by Beecher Threatt
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
On Monday Dan W. Hotsenpiller, District Attorney for the Seventh Judicial District, issued a strongly-worded statement apologizing to four sexual harassment victims of former DA Myrl Serra. The victims worked in the office of the district attorney. Attached to Hotsenpiller's statement was a letter from the Colorado District Attorneys' Council, offering an apology as a profession.
Last month Serra was sentenced to a year in prison for a bond violation and... 60 days in jail plus four years of sex-offender probation for sexual contact and extortion charges.
Hotsenpiller's statement called the victims "courageous people" and "true heroes" for their willingness to report the "criminal and abhorrent behavior" exhibited by Serra. Hotsenpiller apologized for the harm suffered by the four individuals and said his office would "work hard to repair the extensive damage caused by Serra's criminal conduct and gross dereliction of duty." He said that Serra "bullied, harassed, stalked, assaulted them and subjected them to criminal extortion."
The letter from Larry R. Abrahamson, president of the Colorado District Attorneys' Council, said the council could not speak out during Serra's case, but now that the sentencing occurred they wished to openly address his conduct. Abrahamson offered apologies and sympathy to Serra's victims. He said that prosecutors are held to a higher standard and that Serra's illegal and destructive conduct "tarnished the reputation of prosecutors."
Abrahamson's letter was written on behalf of all elected prosecutors in the organization.