Columbine Commission Re-Invites Jeffco Sheriff

County Attorney Doubts Stone Will Testify

Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone has been invited again to appear before the Governor's Columbine Review Commission in what may be its final meeting in early March.

Stone was invited to testify before the panel earlier but declined on the advice of the city attorney's office. Stone and his department are named in civil lawsuits filed by the families of victims who were killed or wounded at Columbine on April 20, 1999.

Two teen gunmen killed 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives. Stone's department led the police response to the shootings.

Commission chairman William Erickson said that he talked with Bill Tuthill, an assistant county attorney for Jefferson County, in hopes of arranging Stone's appearance.

"But it is his (Tuthill's) opinion that, in all probability, he won't," said Erickson, a retired chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court.

Tuthill and Stone did not return his telephone calls.

Erickson said that the March 2 hearing probably will be the commission's last.

The morning will be set aside for members of the public to speak. In the afternoon, the commission will hear from Kathy Sasak, assistant district attorney in Jefferson County, and Joe Schallmoser, who will speak about school security issues.

Erickson said that the commission has begun writing its report, which should be finished before its May 16 deadline.

Gov. Bill Owens established the panel in the summer of 1999 to document the lessons learned from the tragedy, recommend ways to prevent similar tragedies and chronicle the major events surrounding the rampage.

The commission also is charged with reviewing the police response, the procedures and techniques used by the SWAT teams at the scene, coordination among law enforcement agencies and the ability of the responding agencies to communicate with each other.

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