Pete Hautzinger has a pile of unfinished murder-case files in his office. He has just added a new manslaughter case to his workload. And he has great interest in seeing those criminal matters through to the end.

But after 11 years as the 21st Judicial District Attorney, Hautzinger is resigning his elected position and taking a job heading up the Grand Junction branch of the U.S. Attorney’s office. He will have moved on well before any of those cases are resolved.

The job switch allows the 53-year-old DA to remain on the Western Slope and to carry on in the prosecution realm he’s devoted his professional life to for nearly three decades. It was time to make a move because term limits were going to end his stint as district attorney in January 2017.

“It’s bittersweet. My preference would have been to stay on and finish the term,” said Hautzinger, who will leave office within a month. Gov. John Hickenlooper this week appointed his replacement, Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Rubinstein. Rubinstein was the only person who applied to replace Hautzinger.

Rubinstein will be taking over an office that has piled up accolades under Hautzinger’s tenure. He will also be taking over a trio of unusual, high-profile murder cases that had turned Hautzinger into a regular on national crime shows and news broadcasts.

At the top of the list is the case of accused murderer Michael Blagg, scheduled for a new trial in the spring. Blagg was found guilty in 2005 of murdering his wife and putting her body in the Mesa County landfill. But his conviction was overturned this year because one of 12 jurors lied during juror questioning. Hautzinger took the unusual step of prosecuting that juror and sending her to jail for perjury.

Also on the high-profile docket is a murder trial for Lester Ralph Jones. Jones is accused of killing soccer mom/escort Paige Birgfeld in 2008. Like the Blagg case, Birgfeld’s murder has garnered years of national attention.

The third upcoming high-profile murder trial is for Douglas Thames. He is accused of murdering a young Palisade woman, Jacie Taylor, in 1994. Another man, Robert Dewey, was exonerated in that killing three years ago on the basis of new DNA testing. Dewey had spent nearly 18 years in prison for the crime he didn’t commit, and his case resulted in a Colorado law change that allows the wrongly convicted to be compensated.

Thames, who is in prison for another murder, was charged in Taylor’s murder on the basis of the new DNA.

Hautzinger said it is hard to leave those cases behind — as well as the manslaughter case he filed a week ago when a 14-year-old was shot and killed by another hunter on the Grand Mesa. But he said he thinks he is leaving behind an office well prepared for these tough cases.

“The office is in so much better shape in terms of the level of expertise and experience,” Hautzinger said. “When I ran in ’04, I repeatedly said my goal was to build the best DA’s office in Colorado.”

Hautzinger can point to having three of his deputies, including Rubenstein, named prosecutors of the year by the Colorado District Attorneys Council and the Colorado Welfare Fraud Council.

The office was named an exemplary Victim Advocate Office by the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance. Hautzinger was appointed to represent the state’s prosecutors on the governor’s Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. His office was also instrumental in developing the only lock-down methamphetamine treatment center in the state in Grand Junction. The office has been lauded for its evidence-based decision making in filing cases and also for using the most up-to-date technology in the courtroom.

Hautzinger’s office has also gained some attention for what it lacks. It is the only district attorney’s office in the state without an in-house investigator. Hautzinger has asked for funding for that position but never received it. Hautzinger also doesn’t have a public relations person as most prosecution offices in the state do.

Hautzinger, the son of the late renowned journalist Sue O’Brien, said he has followed in his mother’s footsteps in effort to keep his office completely transparent. He said he feels he has been able to accomplish that by being very accessible to the media without the filter of a spokesperson.

O’Brien was the longtime, liberal-leaning editor of the opinion section at The Denver Post, and her son was a Democrat like her, until he ran for office in heavily Republican Mesa County. He won his first election after he made the switch.

In his new position, Hautzinger will likely continue his string of high-profile cases — and his dedication to transparency within the confines of a federal office. Hautzinger will have the authority to open federal criminal investigations and decide which cases should go before a Grand Junction-based federal grand jury. When he takes over, more cases will remain on the Western Slope for prosecution.

In a prepared statement about Hautzinger’s new position, U.S. Attorney John Walsh said he felt like his office had “won the lottery” in hiring Hautzinger.

“Pete is a prosecutor’s prosecutor and has demonstrated that he thoroughly understands and represents the Western Slope,” Walsh wrote.

— info@coloradostatesman.com