Busted in Aspen, Sued in Denver

Kirk Mitchell (Photo by John Anderson)

As a founding board member and chief financial backer of the Save Our Springs Alliance, Kirk Mitchell is clearly familiar with litigation, as the environmental group has spent a lot of time and resources in courtrooms, fighting over land use and pollution in the Austin area. And when he ran for City Council in 2002, Mitchell unsuccessfully sued incumbent (and former ally) Daryl Slusher to get Slusher thrown off the ballot.

But recently in Colorado, the courtroom got a lot more personal for Mitchell. He's being sued by Colorado State graduate student Hui Hung, whom he dated briefly in 2007, for battery, negligence, and false imprisonment. Rejecting the woman's claims, Mitchell has countersued, insisting that Hung was in fact the aggressor and charging her with battery, "extreme and outrageous conduct and infliction of emotional distress," and abuse of the legal process – in essence claiming that Hung's lawsuit is simply an attempt to extort money from Mitchell.

Hung's lawsuit grew out of an incident in Aspen, Colo., in August 2007, when Mitchell and Hung, who had met recently through an online dating service, were spending some time at a home belonging to Mit­chell's parents. (Kirk is the son of Houston oil and gas tycoon George Mitchell, who was also the developer of the Woodlands). En route in Mitchell's car to the Hunter Creek Trailhead for a hike, they got in an argument over the radio volume. According to Hung, Mitchell became enraged when she asked him to turn down the radio, refused to take her back to the house, then pulled over and dragged her from the car when she demanded to be returned home. In her federal court complaint, Hung further claims that at the trailhead parking lot, Mitchell again pulled her from the car, "threw [her] to the ground [and] began kicking ... her buttocks and legs."

Mitchell has counterclaimed that in fact Hung had attacked him in the car, attempting to grab the wheel more than once, and he was only defending himself – the same reason he later stopped and pulled her from the car. She refused to walk the short distance home, Mitchell says, and followed him briefly on the trail, where she attacked him from behind and tore his shirt. There were no witnesses to the altercations, but shortly afterward, according to the police reports, five hikers found Hung hiding behind a bush near the trailhead, "upset" and "frightened"; she said she had been beaten. Mitchell was apparently about to drive away. The hikers summoned police, who interviewed Hung and Mitchell at the scene and eventually arrested him for third-degree assault, a misdemeanor.

According to the reports filed Aug. 28, 2007, by the Pitkin County sheriff's arresting officers, Mitchell was highly agitated and told them, "I can't believe you guys are up here for this," and, "There must not be much going on." Other than the broken sunglasses that Mitchell blamed on Hung, officers noted minor injuries on Mitchell's hands ("consistent with someone pulling his hand or thumb") and noted both a bruised handprint on Hung's left thigh (where she says Mitchell slapped her several times in the car) and bruises on her arms and back. (Police photos taken the next day, notes the district attorney's case file, record "injuries which included hand-shaped slap marks on [Hung's] left knee, small bruises to both shins, a medium-sized bruise to the back of her right elbow, a large bruise below her tailbone where she said Mr. Mitchell had kicked her, bruises to both her upper hands, and a bruise on her thigh.") The case file also notes that the 51-year-old Mitchell is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 190 pounds, while the 33-year-old Hung is 5 foot 3 and 99 pounds.

In September of this year, the assault charge was dismissed in Pitkin Co. court, and Mitchell pled no contest to disorderly conduct. Asked about the dismissal, Pitkin Co. prosecutor Richard Nedlin declined to discuss the specific decision-making process of the office because that constitutes "official work product." He would only say a plea agreement often reduces initial charges, depending on the specific circumstances. In a March letter to the judge, Hung had called the plea deal "unjust to me and the community" and asked the court that the charges not be reduced and Mitchell receive a stronger sentence, including extended probation.

The court required Mitchell to pay Hung's medical bills, undergo eight hours of anger-management training, and perform 24 hours of self-monitored community service; the court set a January 2009 date to review whether he has fulfilled these conditions. In August, Hung filed suit in Colorado state court, but at Mitchell's request, the case has since been moved to federal court because the parties reside in different states.

Mitchell's attorneys have filed a motion for a restraining order (still pending) in Colorado federal court to keep the case information private and, more specifically, to preclude her from giving the media the police photographs of her injuries, which Mitchell's motion calls "an impermissible invasion of [Mitchell's] privacy." They also claim Hung is attempting to "extort" money from Mitchell by threatening to release (or sell) information about the case to the media, citing a communication from her attorney. (A brief notice of the federal lawsuit appeared in the Nov. 26 Statesman.)

Asked about this allegation, Hung's Denver attorney, Anthony Viorst, told the Chronicle that prior to the criminal plea, Mitchell's attorneys offered his client what Viorst called a "premium settlement" if she would agree to ask the D.A. to drop the charges against Mitchell, but Hung refused. Mitchell's Denver attorney, Carolyn Fairless, did not return calls requesting comment. Attempts to contact Mitchell were unsuccessful.