Englewood Board of Education member Davon Williams’ arraignment for a felony charge of car theft from 2019 was postponed to a fourth date on Tuesday.
Adams County District Court Judge Jeffrey Smith granted a fourth arraignment date for Williams’ case after his attorney said more time was needed to show mitigation. The docket now shows Williams’ next court appearance is set for July 2 at 8:30 a.m. in Division G.
This latest update comes after Adams County District Court Judge Patrick H. Pugh said in an April 9 court appearance that the court would postpone the arraignment just one more time, until May 21, pending potential resolution.
Williams is represented by attorney Michael McCullough.
The 2019 car-theft allegation against Williams led to the issuance of an arrest warrant in 2020. The Glendale Police Department confirmed that Williams turned himself in to their agency for the outstanding warrant on Nov. 6, one day before his unopposed election to the Englewood school board.
Meg Froelich, who represents Englewood in the Colorado House, told the Englewood Herald in December that she believes a felony conviction while in office could result in Williams’ removal from the school board.
“Currently the law states in C.R.S. 22-31-129: ‘A school director office shall be deemed to be vacant upon the occurrence of any one of the following events prior to the expiration of the term of office: … (e) if the person who was duly elected or appointed is found guilty of a felony,”’ Froelich said.
Matt Cook, director of public policy and advocacy for the Colorado Association of School Boards, said in an email April 9 that the statute goes on to state what the proceedings of removal would look like.
“The statute then states – ‘at the next board of education meeting immediately following the occurrence of any condition specified in subsection (1) of this section, the board of education of the district shall adopt a resolution declaring a vacancy in the school director office, and the board of education of the school district in which the vacancy occurs shall appoint a person to fill the vacancy within sixty days after the vacancy has occurred,” Cook said. “‘If the appointment is not made by the board within the sixty-day period, the president of the board shall forthwith appoint a person to fill the vacancy.”’
The May court appearance came months after a reimbursement dispute between Williams and other members of the school board over Williams’ unapproved mileage expenses, and after the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office found no evidence in February to support Williams’ claim that Englewood City Attorney Tamara Niles and City Manager Shawn Lewis had committed the crime of retaliation against him.
Williams’s 2023 candidacy for the school board and subsequent board membership became controversial after the Englewood Herald revealed in October that Williams had two previous felony convictions, a finding of bad faith in a civil lawsuit, the outstanding arrest warrant and the ongoing felony car theft case.