DENVER | Attorneys for a Colorado man who is suing two detectives claim police ignored his cognitive disabilities during hours of questioning before he falsely confessed to sexually assaulting a young girl.
The lawsuit accusing the detectives of malicious prosecution started on Monday in Denver federal court.
Tyler Sanchez’s attorneys say the 18-year-old, who has an IQ score in the 60s or 70s, spent four months in jail and lived in fear until prosecutors dropped the charges in 2012.
They argue that Heather Mykes and Mike Duffy, who were detectives for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in 2009, recognized Sanchez’s disabilities and continued investigating despite conflicts between his confession and other evidence.
The investigators’ attorneys say even psychiatrists disagreed about Sanchez’s condition and said the two detectives suspected he was being intentionally evasive during police interviews.
