Citizen Centennial 7.19.13
Centennial
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 35
July 19, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourcentennialnews.com
Insanity plea entered in mom’s death Court order may jeopardize client’s rights, defense says By Deborah Grigsby
dgrigsby@ourcoloradonews.com A Centennial man accused of killing his mother and then dismembering her body has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. However, a court order requiring Ari Misha Liggett to cooperate with state-appointed mental-health experts may compromise his constitutional rights, according to his attorney.
Liggett, 24, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his mother, 56-yearold Beverly Liggett. He appeared July 15 in an Arapahoe County courtroom before Judge William B. Sylvester, who accepted his plea and ordered the former University of Colorado student to undergo further mental-health testing. Sylvester laid out a 23-point advisement to Liggett Liggett and his attorney, Jennifer Ahnstedt, detailing the conditions and consequences of his plea. Ahnstedt argued that some of the stipulations issued by the court in the document may be unconstitutional.
Specifically, she points to what she claims is a conflict between her client’s right to assert the Fifth Amendment and the court’s demand that Liggett answer questions and cooperate fully with mentalhealth professionals. Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Sugioka objected, insisting that the statutory definition of “non-cooperation” was “not that difficult.” Ahnstedt asked the court for a separate hearing to wrangle with the issues before Liggett would be obligated to undergo the 60-day evaluation. “Once the evaluation is complete, the statute comes into play and we’ve lost the opportunity, if desired, to assert the Fifth Amendment,” she said. The court-ordered mental-health evalu-
ation may help determine whether Liggett serves time in prison or in a state mental facility, if convicted. Sylvester, who stepped down in April as the judge in the trial of Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes, said he shared the concerns raised by the defense, but would not interrupt the evaluation by granting a hearing in the middle of the process. Sylvester did permit the litigation of such constitutional issues, should they arise, at a later date. Liggett underwent a competency exam in February at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo and was deemed competent to stand trial. He is suspected of poisoning his mother and then cutting her body into seven pieces to hide her death so he could use her credit cards.
Distillery missing bathtub Gin maker offers free drinks for return of 400-pound vessel By Deborah Grigsby
dgrigsby@ourcoloradonews.com
R.J. Gragg of Centennial lines up a serve at the pickleball court at the Lone Tree Recreation Center. Photos by Deborah Grigsby
Pickleball
making quite a
racket
Hybrid sport takes root in south metro area By Anna Sutterer
Special to Colorado Community Media
A
fast-growing sport combining elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, pickleball has swept Pickleball players use small paddles, similar to those used in ping-pong, and a plastic wiffleacross America and made its way to south metro like ball. Wooden paddles are typically used by beginning players. More advanced players opt to use rackets made of more lightweight materials, such as composites or graphite. Denver. South Suburban Parks and Recreation embraced the trend last November at its Sheridan center and expanded it to the Lone Tree swing with precision at a wiffle-like ball and shuffle in all direclocation last month. The Buck and Goodson recreation centers, tions across the court. in Littleton and Centennial respectively, are also exploring addDon’t be fooled by the cutesy name and adorable story. ing the hybrid sport, if enough interest is expressed. Though there may not be much room to run about and the lightWhile the game is new to many, its roots date back decades. er ball generally flies with less fervor than in tennis, the game Named after founder Joel Pritchard’s dog Pickles, the game be- holds real excitement for those who play it. According to the USA gan on Bainbridge Island, Wash., in 1965 when Pritchard and Bill Pickleball Association, there are more than 100,000 active players Bell misplaced the shuttlecock to their badminton set and had to in America. In especially competitive pickleball areas, a special improvise a new form of entertainment using the pooch’s perfo- court on one’s property is very common — akin to a basketball rated plastic ball. hoop in the driveway. Pickleball is most commonly a doubles sport, played on a Attendance at Sheridan’s program has been increasing and is court similar to tennis but with one-third the area to cover, and becoming more consistent since its opening, according to facility even smaller when played as singles. Players wield wooden or Pickleball continues on Page 12 composite paddles, just shorter than a tennis racket, as they
Andrew Causey makes gin. Although the spirits he channels with partner Mitch Abate at the Downslope Distillery are far from the storied bathtub hooch made during Prohibition, he does keeps a bathtub around as a sort of a sentimental tribute to days gone by. But as Causey opened his distillery the morning of July 7, he noticed something was missing. That something was the 400-pound cast iron bathtub that used to welcome tourists and tasters to the Centennialbased small-batch distillery. “I really had to just stop and do a double-take,” Causey said. “At first we thought we would get a ransom note, but we didn’t.” Although the tub was old, he joked that it was not a claw-footed model, “so it probably didn’t walk off.” The giant enameled vessel was actually a hand-me-down from a relative, and Causey thought that parking it in front of the distillery’s front entrance would spark a giggle and add a bit of period charm. Causey said he never thought about bolting it to the ground, because, well, it weighs 400 pounds. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the bathtub bandits in action, he checked with neighboring businesses that have security cameras. “And of course, when we looked, all the cameras were pointed in every other direction except where we needed them,” he said with a chuckle. Causey cedes he didn’t report the incident to law enforcement, simply because he figured it was a lost cause and officers probably had a lot more important things to do than chase after his missing bathtub. Bathtub continues on Page 12
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