 Transparency! A judicial nominating commission in Colorado has disclosed the names of all applicants prior to making formal nominations.
Kudos to the 14th Judicial District (Grand, Moffat and Routt counties – Hot Sulphur Springs, Craig and Steamboat Springs)! Below are the names of 16 individuals who have applied to be a district court judge in the district. Unlike the judicial performance commissions, where one state commission makes the rules for all commissions to follow, each nominating commission makes its own rules. The nominating commission for the 14th Judicial District has a rule requiring transparency. Most nominating commissions only make public the names of the ultimate nominees. But the nominating commission for the 14th is making public all applicants so you can comment on them. This is an improvement in the judicial selection process. If you know the applicants, or have an opinion, you’re encouraged to send your comments to the ex officio chair of the commission, Justice Melissa Hart, at [email protected]. Please include 14th Judicial District and the applicant’s name in the subject line. It is interesting to note that if the judicial branch followed the Colorado Constitution and required the candidates to be residents of the judicial district at the time they are selected to be a judge, the list would be reduced to 9. The commission will meet via videoconference on Aug. 28, 2020, to consider the candidates, so be sure to get your comments in before the 28th. Here is some info we were able to put together about the applicants: Jay Cranmer, currently an attorney with his own practice in Craig, where he focuses on family law. He received his college degree from the University of Kansas and his law degree from DU in 2003. Kristina Doran, currently an attorney with Klauzer & Tremaine in Steamboat Springs, where she focuses on criminal law. Previously, she was a prosecutor. She received her college degree from CU in 2005 and her law degree from CU in 2010. Sandra Gardner, a former judge for the Moffat County Court, serving from 2006 to 2020. She resigned from the court on August 1, 2020. She was an attorney in private practice prior to joining the court. She received her college degree from Colorado College in 1985 and her law degree from Emory University (Georgia) in 1991. Steven Jensen, currently a deputy DA in Jefferson County. He has been a deputy DA in that district since 1988 and was a Deputy DA in Pueblo before that. He received his college degree from the University of Southern Colorado in 1981 and his law degree from CU in 1984. Matthew Karzen, currently the DA in the 14th Judicial District Emily Kelley, currently an attorney with Ethos Legal Services in Steamboat Springs, where she focuses on criminal defense, civil litigation and marijuana compliance law. She received her college degree from Colorado College in 2008 and her law degree from DU in 2012. Jonathan Lucero, currently an associate judge in Englewood Municipal Court and a relief judge in Aurora Municipal Court. Prior to that he worked as a magistrate in Denver County Court and also worked in private practice focusing on litigation. He received his college degree from CU in 2004 and his law degree from CU in 2007. Trevor McFee, currently an attorney with a solo practice focusing on criminal law in Denver. Previously he was a public defender. He received his law degree from DU in 2002. Natascha O’Flaherty, currently a trustee for the city of Granby. She became licensed as an attorney in Colorado in 1992. Stephen Peters, currently an attorney in Winter Park, where he focuses on litigation. Previously he was an assistant US Attorney for the district of Colorado. He received his law degree from Duke in 1983. He lives in Fraser. Zachary Phillips, currently an assistant US Attorney in Denver. Previously, he was a deputy DA. He received his college degree from Lake Forest College (Illinois) in 1989 and his law degree from DU in 1999. Casey Quillen, currently a trial lawyer in Steamboat Springs with Sharp, Sherman, & Engle, LLC. Her practice is focused on general litigation, with an emphasis on business disputes, mechanics liens, landlord/tenant, and personal injury. She received her college degree from the University of North Carolina in 2001 and her law degree from CU in 2004. Jennifer Shaler, currently an attorney with Chayet & Danzo, a Denver law firm focusing on Elder law. She received her college degree from the University of Kansas and her law degree from DU. David Wilson, currently an attorney with Sherman & Howard in Denver, where he focuses on arbitration and litigation of business disputes. He received his college degree from the University of Texas in 1983 and his law degree from the University of Texas in 1986. Erin Wilson, currently in solo practice focusing on criminal law in Steamboat Springs. Julia Yates, currently an attorney and freelance photographer in Fort Collins. She received her law degree from the University of Wyoming in 1997.
0 Comments
 The judge reviews by the Colorado judicial performance commission are available. The reviews are for the judges up for retention in November.
Consider the recommendations with a grain of salt. No background checks were done. The commissions don’t know whether the judges they’ve reviewed have been disciplined. The commissions don’t have any complaints that have been filed against the judges. The commissions don’t hold public hearings to get comments. The commissions don’t have much historical information about the judges because the executive director for the performance commissions destroys all documents except the final, watered-down report. The commissions (there are 23 commissions - one in each of the 22 judicial districts and a state commission that makes the rules and evaluates appellate judges) simply don’t have enough information to reasonably provide a knowledgeable recommendation about any judge. The commissions receive some documents provided by the judge under review, talk with the judge, and do a little courtroom observation when the judge usually knows they are there. A very limited number of surveys are sent to some chosen people. Those chosen people are the only people who can complete a survey confidentially. Although you can go to the performance commission website and comment on a judge, such comments are not confidential which often discourages someone from commenting. What if someone uses a survey to relate some specific, outrageous instance about a judge? That incident gets covered up by the methodology the performance commissions use. The executive director ensures the judicial performance commission members only see numerical aggregate totals from the surveys. The commission members don’t see any specific instances of conduct that are related on the surveys. And the “performance standard” the commissions claim the judges meet? That standard doesn’t exist. There is no threshold or bar the judges must meet to get a “meets performance standard” recommendation. This was apparent in 2018 when the performance commissions used a scorecard on their website. The scorecard isn’t being used this year. That’s probably because the scorecard showed the problems with the performance commission system. Some judges were getting really low scores yet they were still receiving favorable recommendations. Like we said, there is no performance standard. As in 2018, 2 judges this year received unfavorable recommendations. One of those judges is a part-time county court judge who doesn’t have a law degree. He’s Craig Dolezal in Sedgwick County. The other judge with an unfavorable recommendation is 17th Judicial District Court Judge Tomee Crespin. We’ll have more detail about the reviews at a later date. But you should know they’re available right now – less than three months before the election. As always, all appellate court judges received favorable recommendations. No appellate court judge has ever received an unfavorable recommendation from the state commission on judicial performance. One of the appellate court judges, Craig Welling, has a campaign against his retention. Link below. The other Court of Appeals judge up for retention had a performance review done when he was a district court judge which noted he was 100% biased in favor of the prosecution. He's Ted Tow. The Supreme Court justices up for retention are newbies: Melissa Hart and Carlos Samour. You can read more about the judicial performance system on the “judging judges” page on our website. Due to a lack of transparency in the judicial branch, and these ridiculously superficial performance reviews, voters are ill-equipped to cast a knowledgeable vote when it comes to judges. But when judges are retained, it does reaffirm to the judicial branch that no one cares about the lack of transparency.  These statistics are calculated using the information contained in the annual reports published by the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline. The Colorado Constitution states that all papers filed with the judicial discipline commission and all proceedings before the commission are confidential. Most states have public judicial discipline proceedings.
|
Judicial IntegrityA nonpartisan nonprofit seeking to improve the justice system by advocating for laws that increase transparency, enhance accountability and remove conflicts of interest. Archives
October 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed