District attorneys in Denver, Boulder, Adams, Broomfield and Jefferson counties are loaning their prosecutors to San Luis Valley to help shoulder the caseload after Wednesday’s sudden resignation of District Attorney Alonzo Payne.

Payne left office with just one full-time and a part-time attorney swimming in cases. The 12th Judicial District normally operates with as many as half a dozen lawyers handling cases from the six-county area, but several had resigned while Payne was in office.

Two district attorneys who worked for the former DA, Bob Willett, stayed on when Payne took over but walked out without giving notice.

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Prosecutors from other parts of the state will work one- to two-week rotations to help the shorthanded district attorney’s office in the San Luis Valley.

“Everything is being considered to fill these positions,” said Tom Raynes, executive director of the Colorado District Attorneys Council.

“This action makes sense to me because the office has been in complete disarray for months, and after the resignation they must be desperately shorthanded,” Alamosa City Attorney Erich Schwiesow said.

When Payne resigned, the attorney general’s office had just concluded an investigation into nine complaints from victims who said Payne’s office treated them with disrespect, alleging that at times he raised his voice at them. If Payne had not quit, the AG’s office had plans to monitor the district through an independent committee. In addition to the state investigation, a grassroots effort to recall Payne was gaining steam.

Gov. Jared Polis mistakenly issued an executive order on Wednesday appointing Attorney General Phil Weiser to serve as the district attorney for the 12th Judicial District. But after the governor’s legal staff reviewed state statutes, the governor issued a second, superseding executive order instead designating Weiser as the “state’s prosecutor on criminal matters” for the judicial district.

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In a move rarely seen, Alamosa actually spearheaded the recall effort. Alamosa City Council allocated $10,000 in taxpayer dollars to help pay for it.

In a short but passionate resignation letter to Polis, Payne said he was stepping down to “avoid the cost and divisiveness” that a recall election would bring to the San Luis Valley.

Payne had run on the promise of criminal justice reform, but citizens had complained that the needle had pushed too far. Law enforcement officials reported that criminals laughed as they were putting handcuffs on them.

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This is not the first time a Colorado attorney general has been called to fill in for an elected DA. In 2002, Ken Salazar was appointed by Bill Owens to take the place of Wyatt Angelo, who resigned to take a position as assistant U.S. attorney in Grand Junction. 

In September 2010 in the same district, which includes Montrose, Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Ouray and San Miguel counties, Bill Ritter appointed Attorney General John Suthers to fill the void left by Myrl Serra, who was top prosecutor in the 7th Judicial District for 12 years before he was arrested in September 2010 on charges of criminal extortion and unlawful sexual contact.

It’s unclear how or when a new district attorney will be appointed, or if there will be an election in November. Payne still had two and a half years left on his term, so the DA’s race would not have been on the ballot.