On his November 14 show, Peter Boyles of 630 KHOW-AM repeated several falsehoods related to the case of Cory Voorhis, a federal immigration agent charged with misusing his access to a criminal database to get information later used by 2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez's campaign in an attack ad against opponent Bill Ritter (D). After making his oft-repeated false assertion that Denver is a so-called “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants, Boyles stated that the charges against Voorhis are the result of Ritter “trying to get even for what was done to him during this campaign,” a claim Colorado Media Matters addressed after Boyles made a similar statement on his November 8 broadcast. Boyles also repeated the false assertion that, as Denver district attorney, Ritter approved agricultural trespass plea bargains “that prevented deportations of illegals.”

Additionally, during a discussion with a caller, Boyles stated that Ritter "[i]s not going to answer" questions regarding the controversial plea bargains. In fact, Ritter's response to the allegations raised in the Beauprez campaign's attack ad was widely reported by several media outlets.

1. Denver is a “sanctuary city”

Telling a caller to “take it back in time,” Boyles once again implied that under former Mayor Wellington Webb and former “manager of safety” Butch Montoya, “Denver becomes sanctuary.” Boyles added, “Now, they'll deny it till the cows come home, but ... at that time Bill Ritter is also the district attorney.” However, as Colorado Media Matters has noted repeatedly, Denver is not a sanctuary city, according to sources including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Congressional Research Service (CRS). In fact, on the April 16 broadcast of Boyles' show, Webb refuted the idea that the city had a “sanctuary” policy.

2. The charges against Voorhis resulted from Ritter “trying to get even”

Later, referring to the charges against Voorhis, Boyles told the same caller that "[t]his is Ritter, you know, trying to get even for what was done to him during this campaign." In fact, as Colorado Media Matters noted when Boyles made the same claim on November 8, while then-gubernatorial candidate Ritter requested that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigate Voorhis' use of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database in October 2006, “The investigation was conducted by the FBI, the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation,” according to an October 25 Denver Post online article. The Post further reported that the probe “was placed under the control of John Green, the acting U.S. attorney for Wyoming, to avoid any conflicts of interest involving Voorhis and federal prosecutors in Denver.”

Similarly, on October 28, the Rocky Mountain News reported (accessed through the Nexis database), “The legal oversight of the case was moved from Colorado's U.S. Attorney's Office to its counterpart in Wyoming, because the investigation has focused on a federal immigration agent who worked on cases handled by federal prosecutors in Denver, according to sources familiar with the transfer.”

3. Ritter never answered questions about agricultural trespass plea bargains

Later in the broadcast, referring to the plea bargains offered by Ritter's office, the same caller told Boyles that it “anger[ed]” him that “when this all came forward, Ritter never answered any ... questions,” to which Boyles responded, “He's not going to answer.” However, shortly after Beauprez launched his attack ad on September 29, 2006, accusing Ritter of approving agricultural trespass plea bargains to help five immigrants -- four legal and one illegal -- avoid deportation, Ritter's response to the criticism was widely reported by the Colorado media, including Boyles' KHOW:

• A September 30, 2006, News article (accessed through Nexis) reported that “Ritter said Beauprez was trying to 'confuse' the public by mixing cases involving illegal and legal immigrants, who have a completely different standing within the judicial system.” The News further reported:

  He stressed that illegal immigrants can be deported just for entering the country, even if they are charged with no other crimes.

  Ritter said there were circumstances in each of the cases that led to the plea bargains, including the involvement of one police detective who was under investigation for criminal wrongdoing.

  It wasn't clear Friday how many of the cases involved the detective, who resigned while he was under investigation by the FBI.

  “We would do things to ensure they had a felony conviction even when there were serious evidentiary problems,” Ritter said. “They were still pleading to felonies -- they're not misdemeanors.”

  [...]

  Ritter said Beauprez “hit” him with the allegations late in the day Friday, preventing him from being able to respond to the details of each case. He said his office had prosecuted 37,000 cases in those years, and Beauprez had cherry-picked five obscure cases to try to make a political point.

• The Post also reported Ritter's response in an October 1, 2006, article:
  

  Ritter said that his office handled 38,000 cases during that seven-year period and agricultural trespass pleas made up less than 1 percent of them.

  He also said he insisted his office contact immigration officials whenever a defendant was an illegal immigrant or had questionable immigration status.

  “It was up to the federal government to deport them,” Ritter said.

  He also noted that the scarce resources in his office were used to prosecute violent and serious offenders and, sometimes, cases had evidentiary issues where a plea to a lesser charge was better than losing at trial.

  “We had 5,500 cases a year and seven judges,” he said. “Our priority was to try the most serious cases.”

• In an October 3, 2006, article -- “Ritter defends plea bargains; Beauprez pressing attacks; Democrat cites reasons actions were taken as DA” -- the News (accessed through Nexis) noted Ritter's response to Beauprez's accusations during an October 2 interview on KHOW:
  

  In an interview on KHOW radio Monday, Ritter said there were reasons his prosecutors agreed to each of the plea bargains. In one case involving a woman who stabbed her fiancee with a kitchen knife, the couple married and refused to cooperate with prosecutors, Ritter said. “That's the nuanced nature of our business,” he said.

  Ritter said his office always alerted federal authorities when an illegal immigrant was being held so they could be deported. But he noted that legal immigrants have many more rights and cannot be easily deported.

• On October 10, 2006, The Pueblo Chieftain (accessed through Nexis), reporting on Ritter's October 9 campaign stop in Pueblo, noted his defense of the agricultural trespass plea bargains:
  

  Ritter defended his record, saying those cases were a small fraction of the 3,800 cases he prosecuted as Denver district attorney for 12 years. “There were a host of concerns in those cases, including whether we could prove the more serious charge,” Ritter said. “It was usually a matter of plea-bargaining the case or dismissing it.”

4. Plea bargains approved by Ritter allowed illegal immigrants to avoid deportation

Near the end of his November 14 show, Boyles repeated another falsehood about Ritter's plea bargaining, saying, “During his job or his tenure as Denver DA, he did plea bargains that prevented deportations of illegals and others charged with drugs, assault, and other crimes 152 times between '98 and 2004. These are illegals, folks.”

However, as Colorado Media Matters has noted, while plea deals Ritter's office approved may have helped legal immigrants avoid deportation, illegal immigrants are subject to deportation by federal officials regardless of any pleas to which they agree, according to U.S. law.

Moreover, as Ritter's campaign repeatedly stated before the November 7, 2006, election, aliens unlawfully present in the United States are always subject to deportation as defined by federal law. The News similarly reported on June 11, 2006, that “unlawful presence” in the United States is in and of itself a deportable offense: “The most common charge against those caught without authorization in the U.S. is 'unlawful presence,' a civil offense. The penalty is removal, and an immigrant can be detained in the meantime.”

From the November 14 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: You have a governor that -- look, take it back in time. Mayor Webb and, when Butch Montoya's manager of safety, Denver becomes sanctuary. Now, they'll deny it till the cows come home, but -- and so at that time Bill Ritter is also the district attorney. These deals are being made under the eyes or under the nose of the Denver citizenry. Now, one of the things we're trying to track -- and we have some help in doing this -- every one of these ag trespass guys that was released, what did they go on to do? One for sure goes on to gets involved in a drive-by and an attempted murder and now is a guest of your wallet at the Colorado State Penitentiary. But for them to have done this and then when they're caught, their response is to go after the man who told the truth.

CALLER: Right. You have the proof right in front of your face, right there.

BOYLES: Absolutely.

CALLER: All that information is proof, and --

BOYLES: OK, so now what?

CALLER: And the nail in the coffin is Ritter's actions goin' after this guy.

BOYLES: Yeah. Well, again, you know, they can play this game in a manner in which there's no fingerprints. In other words, but when you listen -- and we'll have them back today -- both the old, you know, the retired guys who I spent a lot of time talking to -- they flat-out said it yesterday here on 630 KHOW; they said that this is Ritter goin' after the guy. This is Ritter, you know, trying to get even for what was done to him during this campaign. And what was really done to him is just simply told the truth about what happened. But when you compare and contrast what happened to Voorhis, who really is a man who has done so much good as compared to these flyweights who go in and tap the same computer and literally walk away. And, like I said, Beauprez walks, Ritter is the governor, the Republican Party, state of Colorado, the GOP that allegedly hires the PI out of Texas, the person inside the DA's office who goes in and does exactly the same thing -- all of them just simply walk away.

[...]

BOYLES: Voorhis is charged in Denver federal court, three misdemeanor counts of exceeding his authorized access -- I'm reading it -- to the government computer by retrieving criminal histories of various individuals. He was immediately suspended. Now, inside of Ritter's office -- inside of [Denver District Attorney Mitch] Morrissey's office -- the same exact thing was done. Did you see a suspension?

CALLER: Absolutely no.

BOYLES: Why?

CALLER: And that --

BOYLES: I mean, you got an illegal immigrant charged with heroin possession was allowed to plea bargain to agricultural trespass. And who's in the hot seat right now? Voorhis.

CALLER: Yeah, why, you know, it angers me that when this all came forward, Ritter never answered any --

BOYLES: He's not going to answer.

CALLER: -- questions.

BOYLES: Look, please.

CALLER: No. He got, he got --

BOYLES: They'll make, they make fun of you. You come on the show, they're gonna make fun of you.

[...]

BOYLES: Now, an ad appeared against Ritter talking about Bill Ritter's tenure as Denver DA and illegal immigrants charged with all kinds of different things ending up with agricultural trespass charges and dismissals. I have chronicled them, and we will tell you who these people are. Now, mind you, this is what this is about. This is the heart -- remember, the heart of rock 'n' roll was still beatin'. It's been beatin' in Cleveland. So, let's go back. Let me tell you something about your dates, right? I will give you some examples of the people that we were able to find. During his job or his tenure as Denver DA, he did plea bargains that prevented deportations of illegals and others charged with drugs, assault, and other crimes 152 times between '98 and 2004. These are illegals, folks.