Colo. Prison Chief Shooting Suspect Was Released Early Due to Error

Had four more years to serve

DENVER — A clerical error allowed the man suspected of killing Colorado's prisons chief to be released from custody about four years early, officials said Monday.

In 2008, Evan Spencer Ebel pleaded guilty in rural Fremont County to assaulting a prison guard. In a plea deal, Ebel was to be sentenced to up to four additional years in prison, to be served after he completed the eight-year sentence that put him behind bars in 2005, according to a statement from the 11th Judicial District.

However, the judge did not say the sentence was meant to be "consecutive," or in addition to, Ebel's current one. So the court clerk recorded it as one to be served "concurrently," or at the same time. That's the information that went to the state prisons, the statement said.