Motion to push trial for Aspen High School coach denied

The trial of a former Aspen High School basketball coach is set to begin on Monday after a Pitkin County judge denied a motion by the prosecution to push the trial six months into the future. 

The trial comes nearly 18 months after assistant coach Chris Woodring was accused of going to an Aspen bar with current and former Skiers basketball players who were under legal drinking age, before allegedly evading the Aspen Police in a car chase through Aspen. 

Woodring was 27 at the time of the alleged incident and was charged with felony vehicle eluding, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and Driving Under the Influence. In March, the court dropped the Driving Under the Influence charge against Woodring, who never took a field sobriety test or breathalyzer the night of the alleged incident.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Robert Whiting, who is prosecuting on behalf of “the people of Colorado,” requested in a pre-trial readiness hearing on Wednesday that the trial be pushed into the future because he was unable to subpoena witnesses: the Skiers player, who was 17 at the time of the alleged incident; the former Skiers player, who was 19; and a third individual unrelated to the team, who was 20. 

Whiting said he had been unable to get responses from the witnesses via text, email, or at the witnesses’ addresses and that one of the witnesses had been out of the country.

Should the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s office be granted the six-month continuance, Whiting said the investigator working with the office would take a different approach to subpoena the witnesses — two of whom are now at Arizona and Colorado universities, and one of whom has an address listed in Aspen. 

“He will post up in these locations repeatedly, as long as necessary, until he encounters these witnesses,” Whiting said.

But under Colorado law of a “speedy trial,” Woodring is entitled to a trial within six months of submitting a not-guilty plea. Following various continuances, the deadline for the speedy trial is Sept. 17. 

Attorneys defended his right to his speedy trial in Wednesday court proceedings.

“Speedy trial does exist,” Ben Rose, one of Woodring’s attorneys, said. “And that’s because Mr. Woodring’s life has been on hold since March of 2024.”

He added that the subpoenas should not have been as hard to serve as Whiting made them out to be. 

“Why only now is he (Whiting) going to show through actual diligence that he will serve this very easily-servable case,” Rose said. 

Judge Laura Makar denied the motion to continue, as she found the district attorney’s renewed approach to contact the witnesses — who, the court noted, are unwilling to appear — should not justify waiving the timeframe of a speedy trial. 

“There is nothing about the approach that the district attorney’s office is taking now that is different, or should be different, than they’ve been taking during the entire time they’ve been aware of witness unwillingness,” she said. 

Makar ruled that the motion did not demonstrate “good cause to continue beyond the trial date within speedy,'” reverting to the original trial dates of Sept. 8–11.

While Whiting did not respond to a request for comment by deadline, Woodring released a statement to The Aspen Times after the Wednesday hearing regarding his upcoming trial.

“When this happened in March of ’24, my life dramatically changed,” Woodring said. “Coaching Aspen High basketball was more than a job; it was a calling. Had I kept my job, I truly believe we would have brought a second State Championship to Aspen. But far more important than that, there are several grades of young men that I was not able to help, and that breaks my heart more than anything. Next week, I’m ready to clear my name.”

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.