EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPCSO) announced Tuesday it would release 96 videos totaling 38 hours of interactions between law enforcement and those involved in cases pertaining to Courtney "CW" and Nicole Mallery.
The Mallerys, Black ranchers in rural El Paso County, say they are the victims of hate crimes and allege the sheriff’s office has not adequately responded to their claims.
As of Thursday afternoon, EPCSO uploaded about half of the 96 videos. The majority the uploaded footage depict an ongoing conflict over a road easement located between the Mallerys' property and a neighbor's property.
The videos were released per each incident, with some containing links to body camera videos from multiple deputies on the scene.
Process server incident
The first set of videos is from April 7, 2021. The sheriff’s office released portions of video from this incident during a press conference on Feb. 14.
One video depicts a process server trying to serve legal paperwork to the Mallerys' home after going past a fence and a “private property” sign. Nicole yells at him to leave, and moments later, a gunshot can be heard.
Other videos from this incident show deputies responding to the scene.
SWAT team searches for shotgun
Two weeks later, on April 21, 2021, videos from multiple law enforcement officers show a SWAT team on the Mallerys' property. EPCSO was executing a search warrant at the property for the shotgun used during the process server incident.
Video from El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Emory Ray Gerhart’s body camera shows CW leading the sergeant to the shotgun.
For months, the Mallerys have publicly accused Gerhart of discrimination.
During this incident Nicole is arrested and charged with assault for kicking and biting another deputy, a charge she later pleaded guilty to.
A gap in videos
Video for some incidents that happened between January 2021 and September 20, 2022, has not been uploaded to the sheriff's office website as of publication.
EPCSO said it is actively uploading the videos.
Both parties call deputies
In video from an incident on September 24, 2022, the Mallerys' neighbor called deputies claiming the couple tampered with her security cameras and blocked her driveway.
“She sat down there for a good 10 minutes… blocking my driveway,” the neighbor can be heard saying.
The Mallerys also called deputies to complain, and said the neighbor was blocking them from accessing their property.
“This is our land. If we don’t check our property, it gets blocked off, it gets damaged, we have dead animals,” Nicole said to the deputy.
“You guys can always install game cameras,” the deputy told the Mallerys.
The deputy wrote in her incident report she found no probable cause to charge the Mallerys or the neighbor.
Mallerys claim their neighbor trespassed
On November 15, 2022, Nicole called deputies claiming their neighbor trespassed onto their property and violated a restraining order. She said she captured the incident on camera.
This call is captured via audio with no accompanying video.
In the incident report, the deputy said after reviewing the video Nicole provided, he did not see anything that depicted a crime was committed.
Mallerys security cameras confiscated
On November 19, 2022, Gerhart arrived at the Mallerys' property with a search warrant for security cameras. The warrant was in connection to the neighbor's claims that the Mallerys were stalking her using their security cameras.
Video shows Gerhart cutting a lock on the fence and removing three of the Mallerys' security cameras along the road easement between the Mallerys' property and the neighbor’s property.
“If you put any up there for the sole purpose of watching (neighbor’s name), I’ll come back and take them,” Gerhart told CW.
CW denies the cameras were used for stalking and said the cameras were used for security following incidents with the neighbor and after receiving death threats online.
Neighbor calls to report alleged harassment
One month later, on Dec. 19, 2022, a deputy called the Mallerys' neighbor.
The neighbor contacted the sheriff's office earlier in the day to report CW allegedly driving his truck on the easement to intimidate her. She became upset with the deputy’s response to her call.
“You guys don’t want to get involved. That’s fine. OK, bye,” the neighbor said.
The deputy asked the neighbor if she would like the case number for her report.
“I’ll get the case number from Sergeant Gerhart,” the neighbor responded.
After reviewing video the neighbor shared as evidence, the deputy wrote in the incident report he could not determine who was driving the vehicle, and the deputy said the vehicle did not appear to drive onto the neighbor's property.
Neighbor said sheep were poisoned
On January 11, 2023, in the last set of videos published as of this article's publication, the neighbor told a deputy her sheep were poisoned and some were dying. Several sheep can be seen in the video laying on the ground.
Over the course of about 30 minutes, a lieutenant responding to the scene makes several remarks about the Mallerys during a conversation with the neighbor.
“You know they killed my dogs too?” the neighbor said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised," the deputy responded.
The neighbor claims the Mallerys are growing cannabis on their land.
“Oh I know,” the deputy responded. “The reason they moved out here in my opinion was to grow weed.”
The neighbor and deputy discuss where the Mallerys are allegedly growing cannabis.
“We’re not dealing with reasonable people here,” the deputy said to the neighbor.
Toward the end of the conversation, the lieutenant said, “I know, and you know, that more likely than not, they’re the culprits in this, but we still have to adhere to the standards of search and seizure, particularly with them. I want to make sure that this is bulletproof, exactly. So I'm going to go do, either Ray or I, which I'm trying to insulate Ray a little bit based on things, but one of us is going to go to the Big R's to see if we can get them buying the feed.”
Protection orders
Legal documents reveal both Nicole and the neighbor have taken out numerous protection orders against each other. A judge has upheld the orders in some of the cases for both parties.
Denver7 will share an update on this story when EPCSO releases more videos.
