Englewood school board member Davon Williams filed a February criminal complaint against the Englewood city manager and city attorney, but the DA’s office found no evidence of any crime and the investigation has ended, emails from the city and the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office reveal.
On or around Feb. 14, Williams filed a report with the Englewood police claiming that City Manager Shawn Lewis and City Attorney Tamara Niles had violated the state law that prohibits retaliation against an elected official, the city email explains.
“That statute prohibits making a credible retaliatory threat against an elected official that would cause them to fear for their safety,” city spokesman Chris Harguth wrote. “Mr. Williams alleged this crime was committed when the Englewood city manager sent an email to the Englewood Schools superintendent.”
An open-records request by the Englewood Herald found that the city manager wrote to Englewood Schools Superintendent Joanna Polzin on Dec. 12, a week after Williams had been sworn into office and appointed by the school board as its liaison to the city’s library board.
City Manager Lewis, citing the advice of legal counsel in the email that also looped in City Attorney Niles, asked Superintendent Polzin to name a different school liaison to the library board and to another city committee because Williams still had an open lawsuit against the city over his failed attempt at an anti-development referendum.
Polzin responded that the change would be made at the school board’s Dec. 19 meeting, but the school district then took no action on the city’s request, and Williams continues to be a liaison.
Two months after that email exchange, Williams filed his criminal report against Lewis and Niles, which the Englewood police forwarded to the DA’s office as a “case review” for investigation and a filing decision.
Eric Ross, the spokesman for the DA’s office, wrote to the Englewood Herald on March 7: “The 18th Judicial Assistant District Attorney received a complaint from Davon Williams who felt that he was being ‘retaliated’ against. The case was assigned to one of our criminal investigators to review. That review is now complete. Our office determined there is no evidence of a crime. The case has been closed.”
Harguth, the city spokesperson, told the Herald on March 11: “The Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office investigated Mr. Williams’ report, and in a March 1, 2024, report, concluded no crime was committed as follows: ‘by his [Williams] own admittance, he is not reporting any type of credible threat as retaliation… I don’t believe that there is a crime or that any further investigation is necessary at this time.’”
Regarding the city’s initial objection to Williams’ appointment to city boards/committees because of ongoing litigation, Harguth wrote: “That lawsuit was dismissed on December 5, 2023, by the Arapahoe County District Court, and the deadline for Williams to file an appeal expired on January 23, 2024. As soon as the appeal period ended, our objection to the appointment was withdrawn.”
Harguth on March 12 explained that since Niles oversaw and led the city’s defense against Williams’ lawsuit while she also served as legal adviser to the Englewood Public Library and Englewood Library Board, the appointment of Williams as library board liaison created ethical issues.
“Colorado attorney ethics rules, specifically Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct 1.7, prohibit an attorney from representing clients when the representation of one client is directly adverse to another client,” Harguth wrote. “Because the city attorney was directly adverse to Mr. Williams in the litigation he filed against the city, the city attorney could not also provide legal advice to Mr. Williams as a member of the library board.”
Williams ran unopposed for the Englewood school board in November. His candidacy and membership on the board 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, an outstanding arrest warrant and an ongoing felony car theft case. He is due for arraignment in that car theft case on April 9.
Emailed requests for comment from Williams, Polzin and school board President Katie Wilberding Cross were not immediately returned.