Briefing, April 20

Published April 20, 2006 at midnight

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DENVER

Precincts to be supplanted by 47 vote centers

The Denver Election Commission has selected 47 vote centers for this year's statewide elections, replacing the century-old precinct polling sites and allowing voters to cast their ballot at any vote center across the city.

Election officials have estimated that the consolidation from 285 precinct polls to the centers will save $3.4 million.

The centers are expected to be more convenient for voters because there is no way for them to go to the "wrong precinct," said Alton Dillard, the commission's interim executive director. Each location will have from eight to 20 or more voting machines.

With just under four months to go until the August primary, Dillard said the agency is well-positioned to complete installation of the high- speed computer lines and other logistical planning for the 47 vote centers.

The city will conduct ongoing public education programs to alert Denver's 360,000 voters about the change, including a vote center notification that was included with an absentee ballot application mailed to all voters last week.

Man bound to stand trial in school stun-gun case

An after-school worker charged with using a stun gun to discipline a 13-year-old boy waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday and was bound over for trial in Denver District Court.

Shaun Ellis, 24, is charged with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon.

He is due back in court June 13 for arraignment.

A student at Horace Mann Middle School said Ellis shocked him three times after he was accused of tripping a girl in the hallway. Ellis was fired the next day.

Woman waives hearing in sex with 14-year-old

A woman who had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy and gave birth to his child waived her right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday and was bound over for trial in Denver District Court.

Tani Leigh Firkins, 31, already is serving a nine-year prison sentence on a Jefferson County conviction for assaulting the boy, beginning in 2000. The assaults continued for three years.

She faces additional charges in Denver because the boy allegedly was assaulted many times in a Denver home where Firkins lived.

Firkins gave birth Sept. 1, 2004, to a child fathered by the boy. She will be arraigned on the new charges June 8.

Only one violation cited at Weld Humane Society

The Colorado Department of Agriculture released its findings in an on-site inspection of the Weld County Humane Society on Wednesday and reported only one noncritical violation at the facility, a paperwork error.

Complaints by former volunteers and workers claimed animals suffered while being euthanized and that some were unnecessarily killed at the Evans shelter.

"There may be issues that need to be looked into, but they will need to be done on a local level," said acting state veterinarian Keith Roehr in a news release. "The guidelines we follow have not been violated."

On Monday, the department received a formal complaint that animals were not sedated before a lethal injection was administered, were not held long enough before being killed, and didn't receive timely veterinary care.

The complaint also stated that some were killed without reason.

But Roehr said sedation prior to euthanization isn't required by state law, and that the shelter acted within its authority.

Wife charged in stabbing death of her husband

A Denver woman was charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of her husband.

Debra Evans, 52, is accused of stabbing Clifford Evans, 51.

Police responded to the 1900 block of East 17th Avenue on Friday after Debra Evans called to say she had stabbed her husband because he kept hitting her, according to the arrest affidavit.

Debra Evans was covered with blood when police arrived. Clifford Evans was found bleeding in his bed from what appeared to be chest wounds.

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