This photo provided by the Denver Police Department shows Matthew Dolloff. Police identified on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020, a 30-year-old man as the suspect in a fatal shooting that took place in downtown Denver during dueling protests. Matthew Dolloff, a private security guard working for local television station KUSA TV, was being held for investigation of first degree murder in connection with Saturday afternoon’s shooting, Denver police said in a social media post. (Denver Police Department via AP) 
FILE – In this Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, file photo, Matthew Dolloff, right, turns after fatally shooting another man during dueling protests in Denver. Prosecutors plan to drop a second-degree murder charge against a former television station security guard who shot a pro-police demonstrator following protests in downtown Denver in 2020. Dolloff’s attorney said the Denver District Attorney’s Office informed him by phone Thursday, March 10, 2022, that prosecutors would dismiss the charge at a pre-trial hearing March 21. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via AP, File)
DENVER | A judge has granted a request by prosecutors to drop a second-degree murder charge against a former television station security guard who shot and killed a pro-police demonstrator following protests in downtown Denver in 2020.
The Denver Post reports that District Judge Brian Whitney granted the request on Monday to drop the charge against 32-year-old Matthew Dolloff. Dolloff had pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of 49-year-old Lee Keltner during a confrontation after a “Patriot Muster” demonstration and another by left-leaning counter-protesters.
Keltner had participated in the “Patriot Muster” rally before he was slain. Dolloff’s attorneys argued he shot Keltner in self-defense. Dolloff had been hired by KUSA-TV to protect a producer covering the Oct. 10, 2020 protests.
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann’s office had confirmed this month that she planned to dismiss the charge because prosecutors could not refute beyond a reasonable doubt his claim that he fired in self-defense.
During their confrontation, Keltner slapped Dolloff in the head and Dolloff shot Keltner with a handgun as Keltner fired pepper spray at him, according to an arrest affidavit.
Lee Keltner’s sister, 48-year-old Suzan Keltner, and supporters protested the outcome outside the courthouse Monday.
Like the murderer Rittenhouse, if you bring a weapon to a demonstration, you are expecting to use it. Live by the sword….
Easy for you to call him a murderer, seems like a jury of his peers called him not guilty of murderer. I let the USA court system work this out.
The moral of the story is don’t bring pepper spray to a gun fight. Can’t say the DA got it right or wrong but it is the system.