Jail captain convicted on nine felony counts and three misdemeanors

Sentencing set for June 9

The first trial connected to a Colorado Bureau of Investigation probe into illegal activity at the Gunnison County Jail is over, and former jail Captain Michelle Zadra might soon find herself in familiar surroundings.

Zadra was found guilty on nine felony counts of perjury and three additional misdemeanors, including official misconduct. Perjury is a Class 4 Felony that can carry a sentence of four to 12 years in a state prison, along with the possibility of—“probability really,” District Attorney Myrl Serra says—probation with community service, a fine and maybe more.
The misdemeanor charges each carry a possible sentence of up to a year in county jail and fines.
Misdemeanor official misconduct might have been the only charge against Zadra if she had accepted a plea agreement offered by the prosecution. For Zadra’s guilty plea to the misconduct charge, District Attorney Myrl Serra would have dropped the remaining charges. But Zadra denied the offer and chose to face a jury instead.
The jury deliberated for about two and a half hours after a three-day trial before sealing the former jail captain’s fate.
“The conviction is a culmination of a joint effort of the [Colorado Bureau of Investigation], Gunnison Police Department and the District Attorney’s office,” Serra says, adding that the Sheriff’s Office was excluded from the investigation for conflict of interest reasons.
He says Chief Deputy District Attorney Keri Yoder and Co-Counsel Assistant District Attorney Jerry Montgomery, who led the DA’s charge against Zadra, “worked very hard to ensure justice was done.”
Zadra was a ranking officer at the jail, with almost 20 years of experience on the job, before she was placed on administrative leave late last year for allegedly listening in on the phone calls of an inmate, Joseph Stromayer.
To dig deeper into the allegations at the jail, Sheriff Rick Murdie called on the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, “because we don’t investigate ourselves. Although the result probably would have been the same, having the CBI investigate lends more credence to the situation,” he says.
According to a CBI affidavit, Zadra had shown sheriff sergeant Melissa Rogers how to use the telephone monitoring system at the jail, which the deputies are allowed to use under certain circumstances. But the eavesdropping went further than it should have.
Listening to privileged attorney-client conversations isn’t one of the circumstances when listening in is allowed, but that is what Zadra and Rogers allegedly did and then lied about it to investigators. That led the CBI to charge Rogers and Zadra both to face the same crimes in District Court. Rogers is currently scheduled to go on trial June 28.
Murdie says Zadra’s conviction is “a bittersweet thing. It wasn’t a great day for the Sheriff’s Office … but it is what it is. It’s part of the process.”
And after Zadra worked in the jail for almost two decades, she had become close with many of the jailers, which has made the situation that much harder on Murdie’s staff.
He says, “The morale [at the jail] is not bad, it’s just taking time to adjust, as is the whole department. It is what it is and people have to realize that we did not do this to anybody. She chose to do what she did on her own.”
Serra hopes the conviction will be the beginning of the end of the atmosphere that the sneaking and dishonesty at the jail created.
“The entire saga is a sad reflection on the regime Ms. Zadra had created in that facility and it was incumbent on the agencies listed above that all steps be taken to ensure that law enforcement be held to the same standards—if not higher standards—than the public at large,” Serra says.
“We are pleased the jury listened to the evidence and found guilt on all counts presented to them,” he continued. “The people of Gunnison County deserve better than what they were getting.
Zadra will be sentenced June 9.