EJF Newsletter —2018 Review of Colorado Judges

Additional copies of this report in printable PDF format (10 pages) are available on the web.

Basic to the rule of law is the selection of competent, well-educated, and wise judges. Conversely, there must be an effective way of removing those who don't make the cut.

Colorado has separate judicial nominating and judicial performance commissions. However, they are both staffed with political picks so there are some holes in the process.

To help weed out bad judges all Colorado state judges must stand for retention by the voters at fixed intervals in even years. Reports on each judge are prepared by judicial performance commissions in each of the 22 judicial districts. But, being political, these commissions usually whitewash the judges.

In 2018 there are 128 judges standing for retention in Colorado but only two were determined to not meet performance standards by the commissions and; thus, should be voted out.

The Equal Justice Foundation has long been independently tracking judicial performance and thinks the number of bad judges is considerably more than two. Inasmuch as the judicial performance commissions seek input from the attorneys who know the judges, in 2012 we began compiling our own tabulation of good and bad judges based solely on the attorney votes reported to the separate commissions, in essence a jury of the judge's peers. That provides a simple to understand and brief statement of the judge's performance, and what the attorneys who know the judge best think of them.

The EJF 2018 judicial performance review based on attorney votes is below. By our measure 23 of the 128 judges standing for retention this year should not be retained and voted off the bench. The performance of 43 more is found to be marginal at best.

If you live in another state perhaps our method may be of some use in establishing a similar method of evaluating judges. Additional copies of our 2018 report can be found online and reviews and much of the history of all Colorado judges can be found here.


 

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2018 Colorado Judicial Performance Evaluations

October 16, 2018

Top

EJF Evaluations Based On Attorney Judgments

Criteria

• Retain >85% of attorneys voted to retain;

• Marginal 71-85% of attorneys voted to retain;

• Do Not Retain <=70% of attorneys voted to retain. Note that this level was lowered from 75% to 70% in 2018 suggesting judicial standards are not improving.

Retention intervals

All judges first stand for retention two years after their appointment or a promotion to a higher bench. After that they stand for retention based on the court they sit in at the following intervals so long as they remain on that bench:

• Supreme Court justices — every 10 years;

• Court of Appeals judges — every 8 years;

• District court judges — every 6 years;

• County court judges — every 4 years.

Magistrates are not state judges and serve at the pleasure of the chief judge of the respective judicial district, not the citizens. Municipal judges are in a similar category in their local municipalities.

Copies of this report in PDF format are available here.

2018 Judicial Performance Commission Evaluation

2018 EJF Evaluation

Based on

Attorney

Votes

Judge

Finding

Attorney Votes

Prior Rating

Retain

Do Not

Retain

Attorney

% Retain

Colorado Supreme Court

Richard L. Gabriel

Meets Standards

98%

2%

Not on bench

Retain

Colorado Court of Appeals

CoA Judges

Prior 2010

2018

John Daniel Dailey

Meets Standards

79%

3%

84%

No Opinion

Marginal

Rebecca Rankin Freyre

Meets Standards

82%

9%

Not on bench

Marginal

Elizabeth L. Harris

Meets Standards

65%

12%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

David J. Richman

Meets Standards

88%

12%

65%

No Opinion

Retain

First Judicial District Judges (Gilpin, Jefferson)

District Judges

Prior 2012

2018

Christie A. Bachmeyer

Meets Standards

79%

15%

90%

Retain

Marginal

Diego G. Hunt

Meets Standards

89%

4%

Not on bench

Retain

Laura A. Tighe

Meets Standards

53%

44%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

Gilpin County

Prior 2014

2018

David C. Taylor

Meets Standards

Insufficient data

Not on bench

No Opinion

Jefferson County

Prior 2014

2018

Susan Lori Fisch

Meets Standards

95%

0%

85%

Marginal

Retain

Mark Marrow Randall

Meets Standards

87%

N/A

70%

Do Not Retain

Retain

Ryan James Stuart

Meets Standards

91%

6%

79%

Marginal

Retain

Thomas Vance

Meets Standards

90%

3%

89%

Retain

Retain

Jean Woodford

Meets Standards

79%

N/A

71%

Do Not Retain

Marginal

Second Judicial District Judges (Denver County)

District Judges

Prior 2012

2018

Shelley I. Gilman

Meets Standards

90%

5%

93%

Retain

Retain

David H. Goldberg

Meets Standards

94%

6%

Not on bench

Retain

Jay Sutherland Grant

Meets Standards

95%

5%

Not on bench

Retain

Morris B. Hoffman

Meets Standards

87%

10%

92%

Retain

Retain

Kenneth Martin Laff

Meets Standards

87%

13%

81%

Marginal

Retain

Catherine A. Lemon

Meets Standards

67%

24%

88%

Retain

Do Not Retain

Jennifer B. Torrington

Meets Standards

70%

20%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

Denver County Judges

Prior 2014

2018

Johnny C. Barajas

Meets Standards

88%

12%

80%

Marginal

Questionable ethics

Brian Thomas Campbell

Meets Standards

97%

0%

81%

Marginal

Retain

Andrea Eddy

Meets Standards

92%

0%

Not on bench

Retain

Adam J. Espinosa

Meets Standards

82%

9%

Not on bench

Marginal

Olympia Z. Fay

Meets Standards

90%

4%

Not on bench

Retain

Clarisse M. Gonzales

Meets Standards

82%

18%

93%

Retain

Marginal

Kerri Lombardi

Meets Standards

79%

18%

Not on bench

Marginal

Chelsea Malone

Meets Standards

Insufficient data

Not on bench

No Opinion

Third Judicial District Judges (Huerfano, Las Animas)

No District or County Court Judges standing for retention.

Fourth Judicial District Judges (El Paso, Teller)

District Judges

Prior 2012

2018

Eric Bentley

Meets Standards

86%

11%

Not on bench

Retain

Linda M. Billings-Vela

Meets Standards

94%

N/A

89%

Retain

Retain

Jill M. Brady

Meets Standards

84%

N/A

Not on bench

Marginal

Robert L. Lowrey

Meets Standards

100%

0%

96%

Retain

Retain

Timothy Schutz

Meets Standards

79%

13%

85%

Marginal

Marginal

Larry Edward Schwartz

Meets Standards

92%

8%

95%

Retain

Retain

Scott A. Sells

Meets Standards

81%

10%

94%

Retain

Marginal

David L. Shakes

Meets Standards

79%

10%

89%

Retain

Marginal

El Paso County Judges

Prior 2014

2018

Christopher Ed Acker

Does NOT Meets Standards

62%

N/A

64%

Do Not Retain

Do Not Retain

Lawrence D. Martin

Meets Standards

90%

10%

87%

Retain

Retain

Douglas J. Miles

Meets Standards

86%

N/A

83%

Marginal

Retain

Ann M. Rotolo

Meets Standards

73%

14%

70%

Do Not Retain

Marginal

Teller County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Theresa L. Kilgore

Meets Standards

64%

36%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

Fifth Judicial District Judges (Clear Creek, Eagle, Lake, Summit)

No District Court or County Court Judges standing for retention.

Sixth Judicial District Judges (Archuleta, La Plata, San Juan)

No District Court Judges standing for retention.

Archuleta County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Justin P. Fay

Meets Standards

86%

0%

Not on bench

Retain

No county court judges are standing for retention in La Plata or San Juan Counties

Seventh Judicial District Judges (Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Montrose, Ouray, San Miguel)

District Judges

Prior 2012

2018

Steven L. Schultz

Meets Standards

95%

5%

Not on bench

Retain

Keri A. Yoder

Meets Standards

87%

9%

Not on bench

Retain

Montrose County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Ben A Morris

Meets Standards

77%

23%

62%

Do Not Retain

Marginal

San Miguel County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Susanne J. Ross

Meets Standards

33%

17%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

No county court judges standing for retention in Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, or Ouray counties

Eighth Judicial District Judges (Jackson, Larimer)

No District Court Judges standing for retention.

Jackson County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Cindy Wilson

Meets Standards

100%

0%

80%

Marginal

Retain

Larimer County Judges

Prior 2014

2018

Thomas L. Lynch

Meets Standards

92%

8%

92%

Retain

Retain

Peter E. Schoon Jr.

Meets Standards

71%

21%

79%

Marginal

Do Not Retain

Ninth Judicial District Judges (Garfield, Pitkin, Rio Blanco)

District Judges

Prior 2012

2018

James Berkley Boyd

Meets Standards

84%

9%

94%

Retain

Marginal

Anne K. Norrdin

Meets Standards

83%

6%

Not on bench

Marginal

Christopher G. Seldin

Meets Standards

100%

0%

Not on bench

Retain

Garfield County Judges

Prior 2014

2018

Paul H. Metzger

Meets Standards

100%

0%

96%

Retain

Retain

Jonathan B. Pototsky

Meets Standards

100%

0%

94%

Retain

Retain

Pitkin County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Erin Fernandez-Ely

Meets Standards

100%

0%

91%

Retain

Retain

Rio Blanco County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Laurie A. Noble

Meets Standards

100%

0%

88%

Retain

Retain

Tenth Judicial District Judges (Pueblo)

District Judges

Prior 2012

2018

Deborah Eyler

Meets Standards

84%

16%

90%

Retain

Marginal

Kim Karn

Meets Standards

93%

7%

Not on bench

Retain

Pueblo County Judges

Prior 2014

2018

Steven B. Fieldman

Meets Standards

97%

3%

84%

Marginal

Retain

David Lee Lobato

Meets Standards

87%

7%

94%

Retain

Retain

Eleventh Judicial District Judges (Chaffee, Custer, Fremont, Park)

District Court judges

Prior 2012

2018

Ramsey Lama

Meets Standards

84%

11%

Not on bench

Marginal

Lynette M. Wenner

Meets Standards

71%

21%

Not on bench

Sub-Marginal

Custer County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Amanda Jean Hunter

Meets Standards

67%

33%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

Park County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Brian L. Green

Meets Standards

70%

20%

84%

Marginal

Do Not Retain

No county court judges standing for retention in Chaffee or Fremont counties

Twelfth Judicial District Judges (Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache)

District Judge

Prior 2012

2018

Pattie P. Swift

Meets Standard

100%

0%

83%

Marginal

Retain

Alamosa County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Daniel A. Walzl

Meets Standards

80%

13%

69%

Do Not Retain

Marginal ?

Costilla County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Kimberly L. Wood

Meets Standards

71%

18%

52%

Do Not Retain

Sub-Marginal

Rio Grande County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Barbara A. Zollars

Meets Standards

88%

6%

Not on bench

Retain

Saguache County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Anna Ulrich

Meets Standards

67%

33%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

Thirteenth Judicial District Judges (Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, Yuma)

District Judges

Prior 2012

2018

Charles M. Hobbs

Meets Standards

83%

8%

95%

Retain

Marginal

Carl S. McGuire, III

Meets Standards

94%

0%

96%

Retain

Retain

Michael K. Singer

Meets Standards

91%

9%

86%

Retain

Retain

Kit Carson County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Michael K. Grinnan

Meets Standards

94%

6%

94%

Retain

Retain

Washington County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Kelly S. Hansen

Meets Standards

Only two votes

Not on bench

Insufficient data

No county court judges standing for retention in Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, or Yuma counties

Fourteenth Judicial District Judges (Grand, Moffat, Routt)

District Judge

Prior 2012

2018

Michael A. O'Hara III

Meets Standards

67%

19%

85%

Marginal

Do Not Retain

Grand County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Nicholas Catanzarite

Meets Standards

70%

30%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

Moffat County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Sandra H. Gardner

Meets Standards

79%

11%

93%

Retain

Marginal

Routt County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

James H. Garrecht

Meets Standards

85%

5%

92%

Retain

Marginal

Fifteenth Judicial District Judges (Baca, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Prowers)

District Judge

Prior 2012

2018

Michael Davidson

Meets Standards

86%

N/A

Not on bench

Retain

Baca County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Debra M. Gunkel

Meets Standards

33%

33%

91%

Retain

Do Not Retain

Cheyenne County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Gerald Keefe

Meets Standards

100%

0%

100%

Retain

Retain

Kiowa County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Gary W. Davis

Meets Standards

50%

50%

67%

Do Not Retain

Do Not Retain

Prowers County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Curtis Lane Porter

Meets Standards

100%

0%

Not on bench

Retain

Sixteenth Judicial District Judges (Bent, Crowley, Otero)

No District Court Judges standing for retention in 2018.

Otero County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Douglas R. Manley

Meets Standards

86%

9%

82%

Marginal

Retain

No county judges seeking retention in Bent and Crowley Counties

Seventeenth Judicial District Judges (Adams, Broomfield)

District Judges

Prior 2012

2018

Jaclyn Brown

Meets Standards

97%

3%

Not on bench

Retain

Sharon D. Holbrook

Meets Standards

100%

0%

Not on bench

Retain

Edward C. Moss

Meets Standards

76%

21%

83%

Marginal

Marginal

Donald S. Quick

Meets Standards

76%

16%

Not on bench

Marginal

Adams County Judges

Prior 2014

2018

Brian N. Bowen

Meets Standards

73%

16%

65%

Do Not Retain

Marginal

Michael A. Cox

Meets Standards

80%

20%

93%

Retain

Marginal

Cindy Dang

Meets Standards

19%

65%

Not on bench

Do Not retain

Brian L. Howell

Meets Standards

66%

26%

58%

Do Not Retain

Do Not Retain

Sabino E. Romano

Meets Standards

96%

4%

97%

Retain

Retain

Dianna L. Roybal

Meets Standards

74%

11%

44%

Do Not Retain

Sub-Marginal

Broomfield County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Amy E. Bockman

Meets Standards

73%

18%

65%

Do Not Retain

Sub-Marginal

Eighteenth Judicial District Judges (Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert, Lincoln)

District Court Judges

Prior 2012

2018

Phillip L. Douglass

Does NOT Meet Standards

44%

44%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

Patricia Herron

Meets Standards

85%

8%

Not on bench

Marginal

Gary M. Kramer

Meets Standards

85%

13%

Not on bench

Marginal

Ben L. Leutwyler III

Meets Standards

92%

0%

Not on bench

Retain

Robert R. Lung

Meets Standards

88%

6%

N/A

Promoted 2016

Retain

Bonnie H. McLean

Meets Standards

85%

8%

Not on bench

Marginal

Peter F. Michaelson

Meets Standards

83%

10%

89%

Retain

Marginal

Michael Spear

Meets Standards

80%

13%

67%

Do Not Retain

Marginal

Shay K. Whitaker

Meets Standards

85%

4%

Not on bench

Marginal

Arapahoe County Judges (18th Judicial District)

Prior 2014

2018

Colleen Clark

Meets Standards

63%

38%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

Kelly A. LaFave

Meets Standards

53%

40%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

Michael J. Roche

Meets Standards

67%

24%

Not on bench

Do Not Retain

Cheryl Rowles-Stokes

Meets Standards

45%

45%

33%

Do Not Retain

Do Not Retain

Douglas County Judges

Prior 2014

2018

Lawrence Bowling

Meets Standards

96%

4%

89%

Retain

Retain

Monica J. Gomez

Meets Standards

86%

9%

71%

Do Not Retain

Retain

Susanna Meissner-Cutler

Meets Standards

89%

6%

90%

Retain

Retain

Elbert County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Palmer L. Boyette

Meets Standards

93%

0%

86%

Retain

Retain

Lincoln County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Truston Lee Fisher

Meets Standards

Not given

23%

Do Not Retain

Insufficient data

Nineteenth Judicial District Judges (Weld)

District Judges

Prior 2012

2018

James F. Hartmann

Meets Standards

95%

2%

96%

Retain

Retain

Todd L. Taylor

Meets Standards

87%

13%

93%

Retain

Retain

Weld County Judges

Prior 2014

2018

John J. Briggs

Meets Standards

88%

13%

77%

Marginal

Retain

Michele L. Meyer

Meets Standards

92%

8%

76%

Marginal

Retain

Dana Nichols

Meets Standards

82%

18%

62%

Do Not Retain

Marginal

Charles S. Unfug

Meets Standards

78%

22%

72%

Do Not Retain

Marginal

Twentieth Judicial District Judges (Boulder)

District Judges

Prior 2012

2018

Thomas Francis Mulvahill

Meets Standards

77%

N/A

91%

Retain

Marginal

Norma A. Sierra

Meets Standards

76%

N/A

70%

Do Not Retain

Marginal

Boulder County Judges

Prior 2014

2018

David Archuleta

Meets Standards

80%

N/A

89%

Retain

Marginal

Elizabeth Brodsky

Meets Standards

89%

N/A

Not on bench

Retain

Twenty-First Judicial District Judges (Mesa)

District Court Judge

Prior 2012

2018

Lance P. Tembreza

Meets Standards

94%

N/A

Not on bench

Retain

Mesa County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

Bruce R. Raaum

Meets Standards

73%

N/A

71%

Do Not Retain

Sub-Marginal

Twenty-Second Judicial District Judges (Dolores, Montezuma)

District Court Judge

Prior 2012

2018

Todd J. Plewe

Meets Standards

88%

N/A

92%

Retain

Retain

Montezuma County Judge

Prior 2014

2018

JenniLynn Lawrence

Meets Standards

71%

N/A

76%

Marginal

Sub-Marginal

No county court judges standing for retention in Dolores County

Notes

Top

The table above is intended as brief reference to help voters decide how to vote on state judges in their judicial district who are standing for retention in November 2018.
Additional copies of this report in printable PDF format (10 pages) are available on the web.

Our objective with these reports is to support the many outstanding judges who serve Colorado citizens while helping voters decide to eliminate those who are unfit for the position they hold. The basic assumption we've made is that the prosecutors, defense, and civil litigation attorneys know the judges in their judicial district best. They are the ones who deal with the judges on a daily basis and have the education and experience to judge the judges. As a result, the Equal Justice Foundation evaluation is based entirely on how these attorneys voted on a particular judge; a simple and easily understood metric that is reasonably consistent across the state. In essence, attorneys are a jury of the judge's peers.

The official judicial performance commission evaluations for state judges dates back to 1990 and they have been posting percentages of attorney votes for and against a judge since 2000. The commissions collect more data than just attorney votes but seldom rule against judges. In 2018, of 128 judges standing for retention, the political appointees of the various commissions only ruled that two of the state's judges did not meet acceptable performance standards. Note that magistrates serve at the pleasure of the chief judge of the judicial district and are not considered state judges and; thus, are not evaluated here.

However, as a general rule, in any large organization it is reasonable to expect that roughly 10% of the individuals in the organization will be incompetent, drunkards, mentally or physically unfit, crooks, or otherwise unsuitable. Of course, sex always rears its lovely head, but copulating with the prosecutor in the judge's chambers, or trying to make a date from the bench with the cutie standing before the bar does exceed the limits of propriety. On the EJF web site in the Colorado Judges — Citizen's Review chapter we have documented all of those behaviors, and more, by one or more judges. Further, politics, religion, and ideology have no place in a fair and impartial courtroom and a judge's ruling must not be based on emotions and feelings.

If you would like to go sit in a judge's courtroom and form your own opinion we have courtwatcher forms available that should be of some assistance to you in that endeavor. We link appropriately completed courtwatcher forms to the judge's name on our web site.

The Equal Justice Foundation has been producing these biennial evaluations of Colorado judges since 2012. Thus, it is possible to compare the performance of judges standing for retention in 2018 with their prior evaluations, as has been done in the above table. Of the 42 district judges who stood for retention in 2012, only 21 are standing for retention again. Of the 76 county court judges who stood for retention in 2014, only 53 are standing for retention again in 2018. The others have retired, stepped down, or been removed from the bench for other reasons, as we have attempted to document. Thus, 21 district judge and 23 county judge positions have opened up in the past four to six years. But that count is incomplete and we find 46 judges now standing for retention who were promoted to a state court bench in the past two or three years and are now standing for retention for the first time; a small and not surprising difference.

Of more concern is the large number of judges we do not think should be retained based on attorney appraisals and past history. If we had used the same standards as in 2014, over 40 of the 128 judges would have been found unfit. Even lowering our Do Not Retain standard by 5%, we still suggest that 23 judges who are standing for retention should be voted off the bench. Of the 128 total we also suggest that the performance of an additional 41 judges is marginal at best. We express particular concern for those judges whose past performance was marginal at their previous review and attorneys now rate their performance as worsening, as documented in the table above.

However, the final decision is in the hands of the voters and we hope this document is a useful tool for helping them decide which jurists they want to keep on the bench.


 

Support

Top

We would be amiss if we did not conclude with a plea for support for our work. The Equal Justice Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible. It should be obvious that there are many costs to doing research like this on a continuing basis. However, the Foundation has no paid employees so all of your support goes into helping with the research and dissemination of same. We note with pride that during 2017 the research and stories on our web sites was accessed by an average of 2,400 unique visitors a day by people in every state and at least 180 other countries. Our work is also commonly reposted on other sites all around the world as well.

It would be greatly appreciated if you would donate whatever you can online or by sending a check to the address below. If interested in helping with our work, or joining the Foundation, that can be done online as well, or by printing and filling out the form available here and mailing it to the address on the form together with a check or money order for your dues. Dues are just ($25/year, which are not onerous, and there is strength in numbers.

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Issues The Equal Justice Foundation Deals With

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