Judges in Colorado — apparently including members of the state’s Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court — have engaged in personal misconduct without repercussions, according to the contents of a memo Colorado’s judicial system made public Monday.

The memo details sexual relationships between a lower court judge and his staff, pornographic videos sent over judicial emails, and an instance where a judge rubbed his chest on a female employee’s back.

The memo, prepared in 2019, details allegations from Mindy Masias, the former chief of staff of the Supreme Court administrator’s office, who at the time was battling to prevent herself from being fired for financial improprieties related to her travel expenditures.

The contents of the memo were not disclosed until Monday when the judicial system released the details in response to a Colorado Open Records Act request from The Gazette.

The memo contends “systemic examples of harassment” exist in the judicial system and maintains Masias was “told by chief judges she needed to seek their permission to visit districts …” It adds: “This directive was given in order to suppress complaints.”

It specifies “instances where judges where (sic) not held to the ‘tone at the top’ but who have violated policy significantly.”

The memo sparked controversy in the state’s judicial system after Christopher Ryan, the former top court administrator in the state, revealed its existence to The Denver Post.

Ryan told The Post the memo prompted him to hold a meeting with Nathan “Ben” Coats, then the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Ryan has said that during that meeting, Coats approved giving Masias’ firm a leadership training contract for the state’s judicial system worth up to $2.7 million to prevent her from filing a tell-all lawsuit that would disclose the salacious allegations.

Prior to the memo, Masias had been slated for a potential firing because of alleged financial improprieties, according to Ryan. Masias formed her company, The Leadership Practice, while still working for the judicial system. The firm was awarded the $2.72 million sole source contract.

The judicial system in an internal email to employees and judges throughout the state has denied the allegation that the contract was meant to buy Masias’ silence.

“The judicial department categorically denies that the contract for leadership training was awarded to The Leadership Practice, LLC, in June 2019 due to blackmail or to keep information about the department quiet,” the judicial system said in a memo to judges and employees last week. “The notion that former Chief Justice Coats and his counsel Andrew Rottman — both dedicated public servants would ever authorize the use of state resources to silence a blackmailer is simply false.”

That email further stated: “Former chief of staff Mindy Masias was not promised any contract prior to her resignation.”

The disputed contract was terminated by Coats after controversy over the contract. Coats has declined to comment as have other key people involved in awarding the contract.

The memo detailing allegations from Masias was prepared for Ryan by Eric Brown, then the human resources director for the judicial department. Judges alleged in the memo to have violated policy aren’t always identified.

Ryan and Brown resigned in the wake of controversies over the contract, which is continuing to be investigated by the office of Colorado State Auditor Dianne Ray.

The memo on Masias’ allegations states that “no investigation was held when the anonymous allegations of sexism and harassment were made against the Chief Justice ….” It alleges that Masias was “told to destroy the letter” making those allegations. The memo does not identify who the chief justice, presumably of the state Supreme Court, was at the time.

The memo states that Masias also allegedly negotiated a “release agreement with a law clerk who accused her COA (Court of Appeals) judge of harassment.” The release allegedly was completed to keep the judge “safe” during the process for selecting a new Supreme Court justice, according to the memo. It further details that two Supreme Court justices were facing pending complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at the time the memo was drafted.

A judge also sent pornographic videos over the judicial email system and faced no consequences, according to the memo. Instead, he was appointed chief judge of his district two years later. In another instance, a judge sent a video to another judge over the judicial system’s email system depicting a woman performing sexual acts on a bald man’s head.

“The judge suffered no repercussions for sending the video, and in fact, was promoted to chief judge a few months later,” the memo states. “Turned the matter over to the chief justice who took no action.”

The memo continued that a judge had exposed and rubbed his hairy chest on a female employee’s back with no consequence. Instead, the judge at that time was under consideration for the senior judge program, according to the memo.

It further states that Masias had pushed for the firing of a judge because of “the sexual relationships he had with his staff.” Instead, the chief judge of the judicial district told Masias she needed “to leave the courthouse and drive slowly out of town,” according to the memo.

It also states that court administrators have been involved in misconduct that has gone unaddressed, including instances where a financial manager accessed personal information on various leaders throughout the state.

A financial manager also was investigated twice for harassing behavior, the memo alleges. Instead of being disciplined he received additional staff and a better office.

It adds that a CPO, presumably meaning a Colorado probation officer, had sent a photo of his penis to a vendor without any disciplinary action being taken. In another instance another CPO had sex with a vendor on state time and on state property without any consequence, according to the memo.

Memo detailing alleged misconduct of Colorado judges.pdfMemo detailing alleged misconduct of Colorado judgesCHRISTOPHER OSHER
chris.osher@gazette.comchris.osher@gazette.com
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