AURORA | A man accused of falsely imprisoning Aurora police during protests outside a police substation during the summer of 2020 will finally be headed to trial in August.
Daxx Dalton, 24, is facing misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment, engaging in a riot and obstructing government operations. The charges stem from a demonstration in front of a north Aurora police station on the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus that spanned from late July 3 to the early morning hours of July 4, 2020. The protestors were there to demand the arrest of the officers involved in Elijah McClain’s death.
More than a half dozen people were originally accused of a gaggle of crimes in connection with the Adams County protest that Aurora police said posed a significant and prolonged threat to public safety after demonstrators barricaded doors and prevented police from exiting the building for hours.
But Adams County District Attorney Brian Mason dropped all of the most serious criminal charges against five people who were previously accused of various felony and misdemeanor counts in connection with the protest last May, saying that prosecutors would not be able to win convictions in the cases.
Another person, Cameron Frazier, was sentenced to two years of probation for a felony weapons charge incurred at the same protest.
Dalton was originally scheduled to go to trial in October after pleading not guilty, but was delayed. He appeared remotely in Adams County District Court Friday for a motions hearing before Judge Leroy Kirby.
Dalton was originally scheduled to appear in Judge Marques Ivey’s courtroom, but Ivey recused himself from the case because he had some initial interactions as private counsel with Elijah McClain’s family after his death.
At the hearing, Dalton’s lawyer filed a motion to extend the trial date beyond when it was scheduled in June due to the amount of discovery the prosecutors had filed in the case, including a witness list that was originally 20 pages long.
Dalton agreed to waive his right to a speedy trial, extending when it could be scheduled, and it was reset for the week of August 8 through 12.