AURORA, Colo. — A year and a half since prosecutors charged a former Greenwood Village police officer with murder, the family of the teen who died is still waiting for a trial.
They're frustrated with the delays while Adam Holen is out on a $50,000 cash or surety bond.
An arrest affidavit said Peyton Blitstein was shot at least four times during an exchange of gunfire with Holen on the night of Nov. 24, 2021 outside a home in southeast Aurora.
"You will be fine one minute and then you'll be emotional the next," Peyton's father Todd Blitstein said Sunday.
Eighteen months after his 17-year-old son was killed, Blitstein feels frustration. Each day family waits for a trial date while Holen is out of jail on bond.
"We are very upset about it," he said. "He should be in jail. He's living his life traveling, celebrating holidays with his kids."
Blitstein is angry this process is taking longer than he hoped, but it's a system he says he feels dependent on to find closure.
"Being able to move on. Justice. Peyton deserves justice and we feel right now he is not getting it," he said.
Police at the time said there was a confrontation between Holen and a group of teenagers over speeding before the shooting. Investigators said they believe Holen was the primary aggressor because he initiated contact with the teens, and as things became more heated, he chose to stay and continue the confrontation rather than driving away or returning home, the affidavit says.
Blitstein shot at Holen first, court documents said, and Holen returned fire. When Blitstein fired his weapon, however, Holen was advancing toward him and the other teen, according to the document.
Holen has a status conference on Tuesday, and another hearing on Aug. 18. The trial date has been bumped twice. The district attorney's office said other trials had priority for speedy trial requirements, and Holen waived his right to a speedy trial. That means the trial is not required to happen within six months of Holen's arraignment, which was in October.
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