The Colorado Supreme Court censured former Denver Juvenile Court Presiding Judge D. Brett Woods on Monday for being intoxicated on the job and for firing an employee who first reported his problematic alcohol use five years ago.

Woods was a judge on Denver’s freestanding juvenile court for 17 years before stepping down in February. His departure came months after the Supreme Court suspended him pending an investigation.

Although the nature of the inquiry was confidential, the Supreme Court’s unsigned censure decision revealed Woods’ use of alcohol on the job was long a concern. However, it went unreported after Woods retaliated against an employee who spoke up in 2019 about Woods’ behavior. Woods then lied about the truthfulness of the allegations.

“During the timeframe that Judge Woods admitted to being under the influence and other employees had concerns, Judge Woods terminated parents’ rights in over one hundred cases. If parents had come to court under the influence, they could be ordered to test and subject to contempt, with serious implications for reunification for their children,” said Melissa Michaelis Thompson, executive director of the Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel, which represents indigent parents in child welfare proceedings.

“The double standard applied to a judicial officer, the length of time it took for this censure to be issued, and the continued lack of transparency about how Judge Woods’ use of alcohol may have impacted his decision-making is disappointing,” she added.

A set of disciplinary documents filed with the Supreme Court, which included Woods’ signed admission to the allegations on Nov. 15, indicated the problem began in 2017 after the juvenile court hired a new clerk. Within two years, the clerk suspected Woods was drunk on the job and smelled alcohol on his breath.

The clerk reported concerns to their supervisors, who then passed along the allegations to Woods himself — a practice that is now prohibited. Woods told the judicial branch’s human resources department he wanted to fire the clerk because of the false allegations.

“Judge Woods now admits that the reporting employee’s concerns were legitimate and that he was at times under the influence of alcohol while at work,” the disciplinary filings stated.

The clerk subsequently negotiated a separation agreement with the Judicial Department.

“For the next four years, no other Denver Juvenile Court staff formally reported concerns about Judge Woods’ alcohol impairment at work because of a fear of retaliation,” continued the filings signed by Woods.

In 2023, staff finally reported their concerns about Woods’ intoxication on the job. In its request that the Supreme Court suspend Woods on Dec. 21, 2023, the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline warned that Woods showed up to a “send-off gathering” for Judge Pax L. Moultrie, who the governor had recently appointed to the Court of Appeals, and was “visibly intoxicated.” Woods allegedly told others he would be driving home afterward.

“This reported habitual alcohol use includes Judge Woods concealing alcohol in a Starbucks cup that he keeps at his desk. Judge Woods is reported to use alcohol ‘all day, every day’ with him having struggled with alcoholism for at least 14-years,” wrote the commission’s executive director at the time, Christopher S.P. Gregory. “In addition to direct observations of Judge Woods’s alcohol use, additional witnesses have observed Judge Woods be typically disengaged in the performance of his judicial functions and, often, to improperly delegate his decision-making to others.”

Gregory added there were “imminent risks of harm” to public safety unless the Supreme Court suspended Woods immediately.

The discipline commission later argued Woods should have known it was “both illegal and unethical” to fire the clerk for reporting Woods’ intoxication, regardless of what the human resources department told him.

Woods admitted he behaved with impropriety, engaged in retaliation and failed to perform his duties competently and diligently. He declined to seek a hearing and accepted the Supreme Court’s Dec. 9 censure.

A spokesperson for the Judicial Department did not immediately respond to questions about whether any of Woods’ colleagues on the Denver Juvenile Court were aware Woods had fired an employee for truthfully reporting his misconduct.

The Denver Gazette previously reported that at least three judges, including Justice Brian D. Boatright and Denver Juvenile Court Judge Laurie A. Clark, were approached with general concerns about Woods’ behavior.

Boatright did not participate in the censure decision. As is the Supreme Court’s practice, he did not disclose the reason he recused himself.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Woods was a judge on the Denver Juvenile Court for 17 years.