Lea este artículo en español aquí.
Fourth District Judge Jennifer Mabey’s ruling Friday, Oct. 3, came just two days after attorneys debated whether the obstruction of justice case should be heard by a jury.
Greg DeBoer was arrested in December 2024 after he told investigators he fatally shot Hideout resident Patrick Hayes in a road rage altercation three months before, then buried the gun near his Browns Canyon home.
He was charged with obstruction of justice, but not with the shooting itself.
DeBoer’s attorney has argued his client helped the case because he told investigators where to find the gun during a search of his property last November: wrapped in plastic and foil, placed in a hardshell case and buried under a rock.
State prosecutors, meanwhile, have said that’s only one possible way to look at the evidence – DeBoer could also have buried the gun to conceal it from anyone looking for it, including police.
Mabey, in her written ruling, said her job is to determine whether prosecutors’ case is strong enough to go to trial.
“At the preliminary hearing stage, this court is not to weigh competing evidence, or to choose an inference favorable to the defendant,” she wrote. “Rather, the state is entitled to all reasonable inferences in its favor.”
She said it’s reasonable for the prosecutors to infer that DeBoer’s “original intent” was to conceal the gun from investigators, “even if he may have later decided to disclose it to law enforcement if/when asked.”
The judge wrote the state has provided “enough believable evidence” to support the obstruction of justice charge.
Now, she said, it is for a jury to decide DeBoer’s true motivation for burying the gun.
In addition to sending the case to trial, Mabey also issued a written ruling Friday about victim representatives in the case.
During oral arguments Oct. 1, a lawyer representing Hayes’ family asked the judge to consider appointing the deceased man’s brothers, son and fiancée as victim representatives. His family members said they want to advocate for him in court and work more directly with the prosecutors in the case.
Attorneys on both sides disagreed with the family’s request to join the case on Patrick Hayes’ behalf. The prosecutor argued the state is the victim of obstruction, not Hayes.
Mabey sided with the family, noting the obstruction charge is directly related to Hayes’ death.
“But for the underlying incident between Defendant and Mr. Hayes, there would be no investigation that Defendant could be accused of obstructing,” she wrote.
She decided that two relatives may serve as victim representatives in the case.
Arraignment is the next step in the case; DeBoer will enter his plea Nov. 5.
