The Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office second-in-command, Assistant District Attorney Martha McKinney, resigned her position and was placed on administrative leave a year after she was named to the post. She was one of five attorneys who left the office last month following an exodus of 33 attorneys, or more than 37% of the office total, last year.

In comparison, 15 resigned per year in 2019 and 2020. Currently, spokesman Howard Black said, the office is short 15 attorneys, or just over 16% of their full staff of 93 authorized attorneys.

Her loss came as a surprise to some.

“The office has been thrown into absolute chaos today,” said one attorney the day McKinney resigned.

The attorney, currently working in the DA’s office, did not want to be identified out of “fear of retribution and retaliation,” but elaborated that many in the office were concerned over communication about her departure, and over Allen’s plan for a new second-in-command.

The Gazette previously reported that many former employees with the office cited being overworked as a reason for their departure, and called on Allen to help mitigate that workload.

‘Toxic’ workplace at Colorado Springs DA’s office decried

With McKinney’s departure, Black said, District Attorney Michael Allen will take over her duties supervising attorneys while he searches for a new assistant district attorney, a process he said in an email he’ll begin “soon.”

Some former employees, The Gazette previously reported, said female attorneys in the office believe they are treated differently. Allen told the newspaper his record proves he’s not sexist, pointing to the fact that he was raised by a single mother, and that he selected McKinney as his second-in-command.

“She is as strong of a person as I know, and it has nothing to do with her gender,” he said of McKinney at the time.

One former attorney said the office’s recent turnover is part of a “vicious cycle” in which shortages cause more duties to be piled on certain individuals, eventually leading to departures and continued shortages.

“When one person resigns, that’s one less person in the office, and that work has to go somewhere. And that goes to the people that are remaining,” Gannon Becker, former deputy district attorney who left the office in mid-December, said. “More and more work gets built up on these people, more and more people leave. It’s a difficult time, I think, for everybody.”

Black noted turnover has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and hiring new attorneys is a constant and regular process for the office.

District Attorney Michael Allen was sworn in as the judicial district’s lead prosecutor Jan. 12, 2021.

El Paso County DA Michael Allen ushers in early changes from Dan May era

McKinney announced her resignation in a memo to the office the morning of Jan. 26, saying it was “time to say goodbye” but not giving a reason for her departure or mentioning her retirement. She said she’d handed her letter of resignation in to Allen Jan. 18.

Allen said in an email that “we all wish Martha the best in her future endeavors,” and that “her many years of service to this community are valued and appreciated.”

He noted she’d scheduled her last day in a way that would have allowed her to complete a homicide trial before leaving, but due to that homicide trial being continued for later this year, she would be able to “take some additional time to herself before officially stepping away on Feb. 18.”

Murder trial delayed again for expert witness

Black later confirmed with The Gazette McKinney had been placed on administrative leave for what was left of her four-week notice period instead of working the notice out, and referred to Allen’s email in saying the leave was so she could take time off.

McKinney has not spoken with The Gazette about her resignation, referring several requests for comment to Black, adding that was because she’s still employed by the office and her “goal has always been to resign and retire in the most professional way possible.”

Assistant district attorney resigns roughly 1 year into new DA’s term in Colorado Springs