The son of Bronco’s owner Pat Bowlen has appealed his April conviction for harassment in a Glendale domestic disturbance case, prosecutors say, on the grounds that the officer who arrested him did not properly fill out a summons.
The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office says John Bowlen’s attorneys claim the arresting officer “did not include a parenthetical subsection when writing the number of the criminal harassment statute on the summons and complaint, which is commonly called a ticket.”
The district attorney’s office says it has filed a response with the court arguing the conviction is valid. Prosecutors say Bowlen has 14 days to respond, which falls on Sept. 12, by which time he could ask for additional time to reply.
Bowlen’s appeal, filed July 28, says the county court that oversaw the case did not have jurisdiction over the case because of the summons issue.
The “defendant’s conviction is void and must be vacated,” the appeal argues, on the basis that Bowlen’s charging document failed to specify any of the numerous ways in which harassment could be committed.
“And so was substantively defective because it omitted the essential elements of the offense,” the appeal goes on.
Harvey Steinberg, John Bowlen’s attorney, told The Denver Post he had no comment on the appeal.
Prosecutors argue: “Had Bowlen’s counsel felt confused or misled by the officer’s failure to cite a specific statutory subsection in the original harassment charge, he could have requested a bill of particulars.”
The charges against Bowlen stemmed from an encounter in which authorities say Bowlen pushed his girlfriend against a bathroom wall on June 3, 2015, in Glendale. He was also charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor for allegedly hanging up the phone when the woman tried to call 911.
Bowlen’s girlfriend told investigators that he was under the influence of “whippets” — nitrous oxide — and alcohol at the time of the encounter. The two had been dating for about 10 months, and she told police there were “previous incidences of verbal abuse,” according to a warrant in the case.
The Broncos placed Bowlen, a marketing employee, on an indefinite leave of absence after the arrest.
In the 911 call from Bowlen’s girlfriend, she screamed and hung up. The dispatcher called back and Bowlen answered.
“She has had seven beers,” Bowlen told the dispatcher. “She is 95 pounds, and she is being picked up by another male who she works out with. She is fine, and she is trying to cause a problem. As the blood of the city, I’m telling you right now, nothing is wrong. She is leaving my house.”
Bowlen went on to assure the dispatcher that he was sober and had “done nothing wrong.”
“I’m a man of the city, a friend of the mayor, and everybody knows exactly who I am,” he said. “I’ve been going through a lot because I’ve been taking care of my dad.”
