Caplan & Earnest and Christian Griffin Law Obtain $1 Million Settlement from the City of Boulder for Concealing and Destroying Evidence

The City of Boulder has agreed to pay a $1 million settlement to a client of Caplan & Earnest and Christian Griffin Law whose rights were violated when detectives from the Boulder Police Department concealed and destroyed exculpatory evidence. Those actions led to the wrongful prosecution of their client, who was innocent.

Christian Griffin of Christian Griffin Law and Gwyneth Whalen of Caplan & Earnest led the case with the assistance of Caplan & Earnest attorney Caroline Gecker.

“We are pleased to see the City of Boulder take responsibility for two of its detectives’ wrongful behavior,” said Griffin and Whalen. “Although the false criminal charges were eventually dismissed, our client’s high school and college years were irreparably damaged by the detectives’ violations of his constitutional rights.”

They noted that the misconduct is part and parcel of the Boulder Police Department’s ongoing, systemic failure to train and supervise its detectives. As recently as December 2023, a Boulder District Court Judge dismissed criminal charges in yet another case due to Boulder Police Detective misconduct.

In 2021, Whalen and Griffin won a record $3.41 million judgement for a client whose civil rights were violated by the Boulder Police Department. In that case, the jury’s verdict form filed with the court following the judgment said that a lack of adequate training led to the violation of the client’s rights and that, “Inadequate training demonstrates a deliberate indifference on the part of the defendant, City of Boulder, toward persons with whom its police officers come into contact.”