Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government.

Colorado’s new chief justice spoke about her path to the top job and her intended focus over the next three years, plus voters received the first peek at the performance evaluations for 100+ judges and justices standing for retention this year.

Chief Justice Márquez speaks

•  Last month, in a long-planned rotation, Brian D. Boatright stepped down as chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court and Monica M. Márquez stepped in. Readers may recall that the court instituted an approximately three-year term for the judicial branch’s top job in 2020, in part to foster turnover among a bench of seven people who are all close to the same age. Márquez spoke to Colorado Politics about some of the current topics of importance to the judiciary. Here is an excerpt:

Colorado Politics: Chief Justice Brian Boatright once said that his onboarding for the job four years ago was that former Chief Justice Nathan Coats sat down with him 30 days before the transition and asked him, “What would you like to know?” Can you describe how your onboarding was different?

Márquez: I think Justice Boatright’s statement was somewhat in jest. He did participate in an onboarding process, but it was informal and condensed into a few months prior to being sworn in as chief justice. We recognize that our earlier process was not ideal….

The year-long formal onboarding process has allowed me to shadow the chief, sit in on critical meetings, undergo a series of HR and management trainings and get to know key constituencies across the state. I know that this process will also allow for a smooth transition a few years from now.

CP: Compared to four years ago, when the Supreme Court announced that Justice Boatright would be chief and you would be the chief who was next in line, this time the court hasn’t said who will succeed you. Why is that?

Márquez: The court has decided that going forward, our chief justice transitions will take place during the summer (around Aug. 1), when things are quieter. The next incoming chief justice will be announced at the time that individual starts the year-long onboarding process. So, approximately two years from now, in the summer of 2026, we will announce the incoming chief who will take over in the summer of 2027.

Retention time

•  This November, voters will collectively decide whether to retain 116 judges and justices across the state. Everyone will vote on Supreme Court and Court of Appeals members, and also vote on the trial judges assigned to their judicial district. The citizen-led performance commissions gave favorable reviews to 115 judges and found one county court judge did not meet performance standards.

•  Because the reviews are generated by 24 commissions — 22 by geographical district, one for appellate judges and one for Denver County Court — there were some differences in their output. One commission, for example, chose to tell voters whether judges were current on their financial disclosures and whether they had any disciplinary history. Another commission took separate votes on retention and performance. Colorado Politics has the full details here.

Heard on appeal

•  The state Supreme Court will evaluate whether vehicular homicide owing to intoxicated driving is always a “grave and serious” offense for purposes of sentencing, and how much detail may be disclosed about child abuse reports.

•  The Court of Appeals determined a subcontractor working on the Regional Transportation District’s commuter rail lines asked for more money than it was realistically owed, triggering a provision of state law that required forfeiture of its entire claim — including the money a judge had already awarded.

•  A lawyer who was serving as a criminal juror watched “12 Angry Men,” did his own legal research and tried to persuade other jurors of the defendant’s guilt. The Court of Appeals ordered a new trial after finding the damaging, outside legal information likely influenced the verdict.

•  The Colorado Attorney General’s Office asked the Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision to grant a new trial to a defendant, raising an argument the government had never previously made. It did not go well.

•  Due to governmental immunity, Grand Junction’s police union cannot pursue class action claims on behalf of all city employees that Grand Junction allegedly committed malfeasance while administering a health insurance program for retirees.

•  A Denver judge was wrong to dismiss a man’s lawsuit challenging the $600 the state’s health department required him to pay for an open records request, the Court of Appeals decided, while also scolding his lawyer for her inflammatory rhetoric.

•  The Court of Appeals took no issue with a lawyer who admitted his client’s guilt to the jury on a trio of less-serious charges, apparently without consulting the defendant.

•  Although children can be in a harmful environment even if the parents aren’t responsible for it, the state’s child neglect laws do require courts to look at the environment with the parents and not at the foster home, the Court of Appeals clarified.

•  Two experts testified about their analysis of a defendant’s DNA and fingerprint, linking it to the weapon used to shoot the victim. The problem, said the Court of Appeals, is that no one could describe what happened to the forensic samples prior to arriving for analysis.

In federal news

•  In a welcome development, the judges on Colorado’s federal trial court collectively slashed the number of motions that have been pending for six months or longer in civil cases. A handful of judges who were habitually backlogged managed to get up to speed, and even received some assistance from outside the court.

•  A federal judge concluded a Denver Health paramedic had not shown he was terminated due to his sexual orientation, as the evidence instead pointed to his performance issues.

Vacancies and appointments

•  There are three finalists to succeed Judge Anthony J. Navarro on the Court of Appeals, as he is not standing for retention this year: Broomfield District Court Judge Priscilla J. Loew, Supreme Court staff attorney Melissa C. Meirink and Jefferson County District Court Judge Christopher C. Zenisek. With the appointment, Gov. Jared Polis could potentially create gender balance on the 22-member court, as there are now 12 men and 10 women. He could also add another member with experience as a trial judge, bringing the total up to six of the current judges.

•  The governor appointed cattle rancher Pamela E. Johnston to the Kiowa County Court, where she succeeds retiring Judge Gary W. Davis.

Miscellaneous proceedings

•  An Arapahoe County judge cleared the way for dissidents in the state Republican Party to hold a vote on removing Dave Williams as chair.

•  An audit found the Colorado public defender’s office handles caseloads that exceed recommended standards, and suggested doing a study of public defenders’ hours worked.