Colorado families, community advocates rally for legislative change amid plans to dismiss kidnapping case
"It still haunts me," said Charles Morales.
Morales was among a crowd of people who showed out to Wednesday's press conference outside the Arapahoe County Justice Center.
"I have a granddaughter who is still at Cherry Creek Schools, and I just don't want this to happen again," he said.
His reasoning is also personal, because he says he saw 34-year-old Solomon Galligan just before the suspect allegedly walked onto the playground at Black Forest Hills Elementary last year.
"I parked the car, watched him for a few minutes. He wasn't doing anything except walking up the sidewalk," said Morales. "To this day, I kick myself, because I turned around and I let him go."
Like other people in the community, Morales wants to know why Galligan's charges will be dropped, despite a history of repeated violent offenses.
"It was very frustrating at first, right?" said Dante White. "The initial kind of [feeling] was anger…and [I] thought that they dropped the ball here."
White's son was one of the children who saw Galligan approach them on the playground that day. Now, White is having to explain to him that the same man will not remain behind bars.
"He was confused, he said, 'Why is this person being let go? What exactly is occurring here to make this happen?'" said White.
White met with the district attorney's office hours before the news conference. During his meeting, White says they explained to him that their hands are tied amid new legislation that requires a case to be dismissed if a person is found incompetent to stand trial.
"The legislation has now codified this dangerous practice that allows violent offenders to have their charges dismissed and removed from the criminal justice system," said Lori Gimelshteyn, founder of the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network.
White says this is a systemic issue that needs to be changed by working with lawmakers to re-examine the existing law or push for more mental health funding to prevent people like Galligan from slipping through the cracks.
"How do we work together to make sure an incident like this doesn't happen in the future?" he said.
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