We reported yesterday on the controversy over Democratic nominee for Governor and Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter's policy of allowing felonious aliens to plea guilty to "agricultural trespass," a charge so minor they would not be deported from the conviction. Already at least one of these criminals who got the free pass to stay in the country is in jail on an attempted murder charge, and there are doubtless many others who have committed more crimes. After all, they are criminals, and that is what criminals do . . .

The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News aren't going to force Ritter to answer any tough questions about the policy, which apparently affected at least 150 alien felons and possibly many more, but Hugh Hewitt isn't letting him off so easy:

What Ritter cannot explain away is a policy that purposefully used an obscure and absurd charge --trespass on agricultural land-- as a means of keeping alien felons from being deported. Employing this tactic not only undermines the legitimacy of the prosecutor's office --"agricultural trespass" is a "crime" completely different from the crimes the felons were charged with, not a "lesser included" offense-- the purposeful frustration of the deportation laws kept criminals in the country who ought to have been sent to their home country.

As the Denver Post points out, there are more than 150 such cases, and the actions of each of these non-deprotees after they got their get-out-of-deportation-free cards from Bill Ritter are very much the responsibility of Bill Ritter.

The Rocky Mountain News reporters let Ritter get away with a series of non-sequitors that went unchallenged (you can't "cherry-pick" 150 cases reflecting a carefully implemented policy, and there's been no "confusing" the public going on legal versus illegal aliens --the issue is purposeful manipulation of charges to avoid deportation). The reporters evidently didn't think to ask Ritter if he was proud of the policy and whether he would urge its adoption on all Colorado Distritcy Attorneys if elected. They also didn't ask if Ritter was worried about allowing felon aliens to stay in the state, and whether he is responsible to the victims of subsequent crimes committed by the non-deportees.

Read the whole post at the link above, including Ritter's pitiable attempts at evasion. Beauprez and the GOP should press this issue 24/7 until Ritter is forced to answer directly for his actions.