A 20-year-old prisoner accused of trying to hire his cellmate to kill a prosecutor was found not guilty of the murder-for-hire plot Thursday.
Christian Harvey was acquitted of solicitation to commit murder after a 12-person jury deliberated for 11 hours, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney’s office.
“We’re very disappointed in the verdict,” she said. “We felt the charge was appropriate and provable.”
Harvey was on trial for allegedly trying to hire a cellmate, for $200, to kill an Arapahoe County prosecutor who handled a prior sex-assault case against Harvey. Harvey’s cellmate wore a wire to record the plot in their Arapahoe County jail cell.
The Denver DA’s office acted as special prosecutor in the case, which was tried in Arapahoe County.
Jesse Glassman, who defended Harvey, told The Denver Post that his client expressed opinions to other inmates, and while they may have been offensive, “there was no real threat of danger to anyone.”
“Another inmate preyed upon Mr. Harvey, who was vulnerable, in order to obtain a better plea offer for himself,” Glassman said.
Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler said the surprising verdict hit close to home.
“I’m struggling with significant internal disappointment about this,” he said.
The threatened prosecutor, whose name was not released, is an exemplary member of his staff, Brauchler said. “But the one thing she didn’t sign up for is to have to live in fear,” he said.
Harvey was represented by an alternate, court-appointed attorney because the public defender’s office had a conflict of interest, Kimbrough said.
Harvey was charged in 2012 with a pattern-of-abuse sexual assault on a child, a felony, according to CBI records.
The charge was reduced to misdemeanor sexual contact without consent, and Harvey was given a two-year deferred sentence.
He was arrested May 22 for failing to comply with that sentence.
It was while he was in custody after that arrest that he allegedly made the offer to his cellmate.
Harvey was arrested on the attempted-murder charges in early June, according to records.
Court documents stated Harvey admitted to the plot and told investigators he wanted the prosecutor shot and her body burned. He told his cellmate he wanted the murder to look like a gang hit.
“We are still concerned about the victim’s safety,” Kimbrough said.
Brauchler said he respected the system and the jury for doing their civic duty, but it was still a frustrating day.
“It’s a tough verdict,” he said.
Harvey, who remains behind bars in connection with three other open cases, is being held on a bond totaling $250,000.
Ryan Parker: 303-954-2409, rparker@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ryanparkerdp
