A member of Colorado’s second-highest court took the extraordinary step on Thursday of calling for an investigation into the “serious ethical issues” raised by a criminal defense firm’s concealment of a potential murder weapon at its office without notifying the prosecution.
A three-judge Court of Appeals panel upheld the convictions of Daniel Jesus Lopez, who is serving a life sentence for the 2007 killing of Yong Soon Kirk in Aurora. The main issue on appeal was the potential conflict of interest that existed with Lopez’s attorneys at the Springer & Steinberg law firm. One of the firm’s investigators retrieved a knife from Lopez’s home and stored it at the law office for over three years before the prosecution demanded it as evidence.
Judge Daniel M. Taubman, writing separately, agreed with the majority that Lopez had been informed of the circumstances prior to trial and had chosen to remain with his lawyers. However, Taubman believed Springer & Steinberg had potentially committed multiple ethical violations — including by acting contrary to a 1982 ethical opinion advising defense lawyers they cannot conceal incriminating evidence. Moreover, he noted that certain pieces of the narrative were unclear…