Golding never got a chance to tell Mitra Hagh to wait for an attorney to be present, but Hagh has already engineered deals of her own that have secured her freedom. She was facing five years and a $250,000 fine for concealing a fugitive and a secondary charge of giving a false statement to a customs agent. In February she was extradited to Colorado to face the fugitive charge. But she was released on March 30 after Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Cassidy unexpectedly asked the court to dismiss the charge. Neither Hagh's lawyers nor the U.S. Attorney in Colorado will explain why the more serious charge was dropped, but court documents indicate the government was offering a deal to Hagh in exchange for information.
In a motion from a federal public defender who was assigned to represent both Hagh and DeBusk, the attorney argues that he can't maintain both clients without crossing into a conflict of interest: "In each case, the government is seeking cooperation, including but not limited to debriefing with respect to the defendant in the other case."
Golding and girlfriend Mitra Hagh paid $13,000 in cash for three months' rent at the Windsor in LoDo.
Golding and girlfriend Mitra Hagh paid $13,000 in cash for three monthsÂ’ rent at the Windsor in LoDo.
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The U.S. Attorney in Seattle says Hagh will still need to appear in Denver federal court sometime in the future to face the one charge of making a false statement, though nothing in court documents supports this claim. Hagh's Denver attorney, Richard Stuckey, says his client was unaware of Golding's true identity or profession. "She's a fine, fine young lady who had nothing to with anything. She was just his girlfriend that didn't know anything at all," Stuckey says. He describes Hagh as being "terrified" during her three months of incarceration and disputes the government's claim that she still faces one charge. "I haven't been served with anything," he says, noting that he is no longer her attorney.
Hagh's attorney in Seattle, Kenneth Kanev, also says he's unaware of any pending prosecution of his client. "Once Denver wanted her, then they got her. And once they took over, all the charges were dropped." Kanev says his involvement with Hagh, and this case, is complete: "I no longer represent her, nor do I know where she is."
This week, on July 10, Justin DeBusk will be sentenced, most likely to probation, in Denver's federal court. According to his plea agreement with the government -- made just days before a trial was set to begin last month -- DeBusk "agrees to provide complete and truthful information to the government at all debriefings, and at the direction of the U.S. Attorney's office to appear and testify for the government as a witness at Grand Jury and at any trial." DeBusk's attorney, Cedrick Muhammad, declines to comment on the case.
And in Aspen, Carter, Ziemer and Reid continue to maintain their innocence. "The DEA got it all wrong," says Carter. He denies that any of the three men made deals with the DEA that have ensured their freedom.
All told, no one close to Robert Henry Golding will serve prison time.
"He was a decent, decent guy," Carter says of his friend, the man he knew as Sean Richards. "He liked me. He was trying to do me a favor. But if he really wanted to do me a favor, he just could have given me the money."
