The Washington County district attorney has suspended a deputy prosecutor with pay because a judge ruled the deputy purposely withheld evidence.
District Attorney Gene Vittone said that he was looking into Deputy District Attorney Joseph Zupancic's future, but otherwise declined comment on what he termed a personnel matter, according to media reports.
A county judge ruled last week that Zupancic purposely didn't give a defense attorney a letter that might have helped exonerate 24-year-old Shayne Coffield.
Coffield was supposed to stand trial Sept. 9 for a pizza delivery heist, but his attorney, Amanda Como, instead asked the judge to dismiss the case upon learning that a co-defendant had written a jailhouse letter saying Coffield wasn't involved. Zupancic testified at a hearing that he forgot about the letter.
