DENVER – A state corrections investigator suspected of fatally shooting a teen in the back as he ran from a reported break-in will not face criminal charges.
In a statement, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said she did not believe there was enough evidence to convict Desmond Manning, 46, of murder in the death of Alexis Mendez-Perez, 16, in April. Prosecutors would have had to prove he was not defending his life or the lives of his family, McCann said.
“We have great sympathy for the family of Alexis Mendez-Perez and understand that the events of April 23, 2020, have permanently altered their lives,” she said of her decision, which was first reported by KUSA-TV on Tuesday.
Manning, who investigates crimes within the state prison system, was initially arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder but later released and his court file was sealed.
According to a police document detailing the events leading to Manning’s arrest, a 911 call from Manning’s home at 1:40 a.m. alerted police to a suspected break in at a vacant home behind his.
After officers arrived, Mendez-Perez and another boy fled and jumped a fence into Manning’s yard. He allegedly yelled something before firing two or three shots, police said.
The coroner’s report indicated that Mendez-Perez was several feet away from Manning when he was shot.
A lawyer for the parents of Mendez-Perez who was on a call with McCann to discuss her decision, Chad Oxman, said McCann told them that prosecutors thought Manning had a “good self-defense case.”
In the statement to KUSA-TV, McCann said prosecutors would have had to prove that Manning was not defending his life and the lives of his family to secure a murder conviction.
In her statement, McCann noted that the law would require prosecutors to not only prove that Manning was guilty of murder but disprove that he was defending his own life and the lives of his family.
Manning declined to comment when contacted by KUSA-TV on Tuesday.
