Rocky Ford Officer Involved In Fatal Shooting Charged

ROCKY FORD, Colo. (AP/CBS4) - A Rocky Ford police officer who shot and killed a 27-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder.

Otero County District Attorney James Bullock says 41-year-old officer James Ashby was arrested Friday for the Oct. 12 death of Jack Jacquez Jr., who was shot in his home. Circumstances surrounding the shooting are detailed in the arrest warrant, but that document has been sealed.

It's rare for officers to be charged in on-duty shootings. CBS4 legal analyst Karen Steinhauser said that even if there was an altercation between Jacquez and Ashby, it's possible deadly force wasn't necessary, based on the district attorney's office's filing.

"There could have been some type of personal conflict. There could have been a conflict even while he was a police officer. What the district attorney's office is saying, by this filing of second-degree murder, is that it was an unjustified homicide. And that's rare in Colorado," she said.

The shooting led to protest marches and a candlelight vigil in the small farming community in the southeastern Colorado county.

"He was a good kid," one protester said. "I've known him since he was a tiny, tiny kid. He'd never hurt anybody."

Jack Jacquez Sr. tells The Denver Post he is "relieved we are getting some justice and this hasn't been swept under the table."

Ashby, who had been put on administrative leave during the investigation, is being held on $1 million bail and is in the Otero County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

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