A Durango man accused of shooting and killing another man Tuesday near Schneider Park was advised of possible charges Thursday in 6th Judicial District Court.
Chad Blechinger, 42, allegedly shot 29-year-old Noah Roe of Bullhead City, Arizona, during a fight near the Durango Skate Park. Roe allegedly dared Blechinger to shoot him before being shot.
Blechinger was arrested without incident and is being held in La Plata County Jail without bail. He appeared before the court Thursday in an orange jail-issued jumpsuit with his hands and feet restrained.
Blechinger was represented by public defenders Derek Maitland and Ben Currier, while District Attorney Sean Murray and Deputy District Attorney Connor Wills represented the prosecution.
Blechinger is facing one charge of first-degree murder, a Class 1 felony punishable by life in prison without parole.
He told a Durango Police Department officer that he acted in self-defense, according to an arrest affidavit.
6th Judicial District Chief Judge Kim Shropshire took issue with Blechinger being represented by the Public Defender’s Office.
Shropshire said before Roe’s death, he had a pending case in which he was being represented by the Public Defender’s Office.
According to an arrest warrant in that case, Bayfield Police Department officers responded to a call April 16 in which Roe was threatening to shoot people at the Pine River Pawn Shop. When officers arrived, Roe was acting erratically and told officers to shoot him. Roe reportedly had his hand in his jacket pocket, pulled it out while making a “finger gun” gesture and pointed at officers, the affidavit said.
The affidavit said the responding officer feared serious bodily injury. Roe allegedly resisted arrest and had to be carried to a nearby patrol car by multiple officers.
He was facing a Class 5 felony menacing charge and misdemeanor charges for disorderly conduct and obstructing government operations. His defense filed a formal entry on Tuesday morning – just hours before Roe was shot in Durango.
He also allegedly told Blechinger to shoot him during their fight on Tuesday.
Public defenders John Moran and Annalise Hodges had entered to represent Roe in his Bayfield case. They filed a conflict notice with the court related to Blechinger’s case, which made Shropshire skeptical that any lawyer from the Public Defender’s Office should be representing Blechinger.
“It begs the question on whether we can be fair to Mr. Roe,” Shropshire said. “The victim has a right to fair proceedings.”
She was concerned the Public Defender’s Office could have privileged information about Roe that could be used unfairly in Blechinger’s defense.
Currier and Maitland argued that since they were not the specific attorneys who had formerly represented Roe, there would be no conflict of interest.
They cited the 2009 Colorado Supreme Court Case People v. Shari, in which the court found that a public defense attorney’s individual conflict of interest is not automatically imputed to the entire public defender’s office.
They also pointed to Colorado Rules of Professional conduct 1.9 and 1.11, which prohibit a lawyer from representing a new client against a former client in the same or a closely related matter, and that they cannot use or reveal confidential information from the former client without permission.
Shropshire was still not entirely convinced, but she did not rule that the Public Defender’s Office could no longer represent Blechinger at the end of Thursday’s hearing.
She set Blechinger’s preliminary demand hearing for 8 a.m. June 23.
The Bayfield Police Department, Public Defender’s Office and District Attorney’s Office declined to comment or did not return phone calls for this story.
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
