Indictments sought against attorney, Dettloff girlfriend

Jeffrey Libby

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 | 10:30 a.m.

A defense attorney and the girlfriend of hotel restaurant manager Mitchell Dettloff may face obstruction of justice and accessory charges after Dettloff evaded arrest for a hit-and-run auto accident on U.S. 95 that left three people dead.

In a 330-page transcript made public Monday, the majority of a 14-member grand jury asked state prosecutors to seek indictments against attorney Mace Yampolsky and Elizabeth Baclaan for their roles hiding Dettloff from police over three days in late April.

Baclaan could also face perjury charges, according to the transcript from the sealed hearing May 8. Jurors heard a day's worth of testimony from 29 witnesses on that day, including Baclaan. They asked the state to pursue the additional charges against her and Yampolsky after just 10 minutes of deliberation.

Earlier this month the grand jury indicted Dettloff, 35, of Las Vegas, on four counts of leaving the scene of an accident, four counts of reckless driving and three counts of involuntary manslaughter. If convicted on all charges, he could face 84 years in prison.

Yampolsky initially told police that Dettloff would appear at a bail hearing April 27, but that offer came only after police attempted to contact Dettloff at his Las Vegas home. Police arrested him two days before the date offered by Yampolsky after receiving an anonymous tip of his whereabouts.

Dettloff will appear May 23 for arraignment before Clark County District Judge Sally Loehrer. He is being held in Clark County Detention Center on $2.2 million bail.

Eight-year-old Benjamin Barton, his mother, Holly Barton, 33, were killed just after 6 p.m. on April 22 when a car swerved into their pickup, sending them across the dirt median and into northbound traffic on U.S. 95 near the Lone Mountain overpass. James Barton, 32, the father and husband, survived with serious injuries.

Brian Cooper, driving northbound in a small-body pickup, was also killed in the accident.

Jury foreman Terry Cannon gave no explanation for the request for state charges against Yampolsky and Baclaan.

But jurors' questions suggest that they were skeptical of Baclaan's claims that she and Dettloff acted entirely on the advice of Yampolsky. They also questioned Baclaan's claim that Yampolsky and Dettloff visited the jail the day after the accident and purportedly cleared the arrest warrant for Dettloff.

Much of Baclaan's sworn testimony, in fact, conflicted with that given by police, neighbors and other witnesses.

Jurors repeatedly returned to events on the night of the accident, asking Baclaan why, if she and Dettloff had done nothing wrong, they refused to answer the door when police arrived at their house about 3 a.m.

Baclaan told jurors she was scared. She said that she had been unable to wake Dettloff from a deep sleep until police arrived. When he finally awoke, he asked her to call a 24-hour attorney rather than answer the door, she said.

Baclaan also insisted that the couple stayed home and ate pizza with their children despite neighbors' testimony that Dettloff raced off in a sport utility vehicle soon after returning home in his damaged 1998 Lincoln Mark VII.

A cocktail waitress at The Library, a Boulder Highway strip club, testified that she remembered seeing Dettloff with male friends drinking "purple hooters," a mixed drink made with 180-proof grain alcohol. She said she served his group three or four rounds that Sunday night, about four hours after the accident. The waitress also claimed that Dettloff paid for a couple of erotic dances by a stripper.

The waitress, however, failed to identify Dettloff in a photographic lineup organized before the hearing. And when questioned as to how she happened to remember him particularly, she said, "I just saw his face."