District Attorney Mike Green was accused in Montezuma County Court last Wednesday of filing charges "in bad faith" against John B. Coleman — a man accused of attacking his ex-girlfriend and abducting his own daughter.

The accusation against prosecuting attorney Mike Green came from defense attorney Kyle Ipson during Coleman’s preliminary hearing Wednesday morning.

Ipson told County Judge Christopher Leroi that Green had charged Coleman with second-degree kidnapping, despite the fact that the District Attorney knew that the charge was in violation of Colorado state law and would not hold up in court.

"This is a typical example of a DA trying to get a conviction instead of trying to do what the district attorney is charged with under the statute — which is to do justice," Ipson said. "The DA is charged with representing the people of the state of Colorado in effort to obtain justice in every case — getting a conviction is secondary."

According to Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office reports, Coleman allegedly attacked his ex-girlfriend, 26-year-old Jennifer Davis, following the Mancos High School Graduation and then fled with their 15-month-old daughter Aniston Coleman.

Following the graduation, Coleman avoided authorities for more than two weeks, spurring a nationwide search for the pair.

Green charged Coleman with second-degree kidnapping (a class 4 felony) as well as third-degree assault and child abuse after Coleman surrendered himself to Durango Police on June 5.

However, a 1986 Colorado Supreme Court case, similar to the Coleman case, says that both parents have an equal and joint right to the custody of their minor children. In the absence of a court order granting legal physical custody to the child’s mother, the defendant shares an equal right to the custody of the child, according to Colorado law.

Leroi said Friday that because Jennifer Davis had not obtained a court order granting her custody of the baby at the time of the graduation, Coleman could not be found guilty of kidnapping.

Ipson said that he had made the District Attorney aware of the Supreme Court case and the state law on June 27, but said Green chose to pursue the kidnapping conviction anyway.

"(Green) has a guy in jail on a $250,000 bond who did not commit a felony — stick Mike Green in jail on a $250,000 bond and see how he feels about it," Ipson said Friday.

Leroi said Ipson claimed that Coleman’s case is a high profile one and the only reason the DA is charging it is so that he can look good in the eyes of the voters during the election year (for the DA position).

Ipson said Green was intent upon winning a conviction in the case, regardless of what he had to do to get it.

"Mike Green was after a conviction," Ipson said. "He was going to lie to the court if he had to — and he did.

"After I told Mike Green about (the Supreme Court case), he comes in and says that we have a clear cut case of second-degree kidnapping with a crime of violence charge ... he knows that’s not true."

Leroi said that during court proceedings Green said he did not agree with the Supreme Court case and felt that the circumstances of the Coleman case were different from the 1986 incident, during which a man broke into his wife’s home, assaulted her and fled with their child.

Leroi said that if the district attorney felt the law has changed since 1986, then it would have been appropriate to file the charge and argue how the law has changed — but Green didn’t do that.

"They just filed the charge and said, ‘Judge, we don’t agree with the law,’" Leroi said.

"I felt that they were putting me in the precarious position of trying to overrule — as a trial judge — the Colorado Supreme Court without any basis," said Leroi.

"I think that they (the DA’s office) is going to appeal my decision — that’s what Mr. Green told me yesterday — but I don’t know on what grounds," Leroi added.

Jim Preston, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case Wednesday, declined to comment on the case on Friday stating that it was "on- going."

Messages left for Green on Friday were not returned.