Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Crime Watch

By CHARLES ASHBY Charles.Ashby@gjsentinel.com
Sep 12, 2024 Updated Sep 12, 2024

The head of a small Grand Junction drug ring that sold methamphetamine in town will remain behind bars, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled last week.

The Western Colorado Drug Task Force had been tracking Chastity Suazo through a GPS device for some time when she was arrested for possession of more than 337 grams of methamphetamine in 2020.

She previously had been convicted of three drug-related felonies, two of which were for distribution.

She was charged with possession with intent to manufacture or distribute more than 112 grams of methamphetamine, possession of an illegal weapon, driving with a restrained license, possession of drug paraphernalia and conspiracy to distribute more than 225 grams of methamphetamine.

A jury found her guilty of the possession and conspiracy charges, but acquitted her on the others.

As a result, District Judge Matthew Barrett gave her two 24-year sentences, ordering them to run concurrent.

Part of that higher sentence was because Barrett determined that Suazo showed no remorse for her crimes, asking her during sentencing “is something funny, Ms. Suazo?”

“Absolutely,” she replied. “That is a whole lot of time.”

In her appeal, Suazo’s court-appointed attorneys tried to argue that Barrett erred when he denied her motions to suppress evidence because of an unlawful traffic stop that used a drug-sniffing dog, by allowing Grand Junction Police Detective Chad Simpson to testify about a search warrant that allowed him to attach a GPS device to her vehicle, the her two convictions violated double jeopardy laws, and that Barrett shouldn’t have considered her lack of remorse.

The court wrote that it was not persuaded.

“An officer may conduct a search of a car without first obtaining a warrant if the officer has lawfully stopped a vehicle and has probable cause to believe the vehicle contains evidence of a crime,” Judge Pax Moultrie wrote in the ruling, which was joined by Judges Stephanie Dunn and Steve Bernard.

“As the district court found, Detective Simpson wasn’t testifying about the process of obtaining a search warrant or the standard for probable cause,” Moultrie added. “Instead, his testimony was offered to provide context about the Task Force’s investigation of Sauzo and the chain of events proceeding the traffic stop. Further, even if admission of this testimony was erroneous, we aren’t persuaded that it substantially influenced the verdict or affected the fairness of the trial.”

Suazo, 42, currently is being held in the La Vista Correctional Facility. Her first parole hearing is in June 2031.