As Arapahoe County plans for the shift of domestic violence cases out of the Aurora Municipal Court, officials from the 18th Judicial District — which will take on a majority of the cases — said the district will “struggle” to manage the influx without additional resources. 

Aurora City Council passed a resolution in September to stop prosecuting domestic violence cases, instead handing their cases off to the 17th and 18th Judicial Districts for prosecution starting July 1. 

While the 17th Judicial District expects to see 200 additional domestic violence cases per year from Aurora, the 18th expects an additional 900 — essentially doubling its caseload. 

According to a document put together by various court officials and county staff members, the influx without additional resources could mean officers are unable to meet the basic standards and legislative requirements of their work, such as responding to violations, conducting supervision appointments, communicating with victims and verifying treatment program progress.

As it is, the 18th Judicial District Probation Department is only staffed at 79% of the officers needed to be effective, according to the document.

“We are barely keeping our heads above water,” 18th Judicial District Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro said. “We’re surviving, but it’s going to be hard to take on additional caseloads without additional prosecutors.”

Over the last several months, Arapahoe County Commissioners office staff have met with officials from the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Combined Courts and Probation Department, the Colorado State Public Defender, representatives from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, Community Resources and Finance Department to figure out how to manage the influx of cases.

The 18th Judicial District manages an average of 859 domestic violence cases every year. The addition of Aurora’s cases means the district’s caseloads will more than double, resulting in “significant impacts to the criminal justice system,” according to county documents.

As of July 2024, Aurora Municipal Court had more than 2,400 open domestic violence cases, with over 1,000 active warrants. Aurora will finish prosecuting and investigating the ongoing cases, but all new cases as of July 1 will go to the 17th and 18th Judicial Districts. 

Due to their nature, domestic violence cases take longer to resolve than other case types and are more resource intensive, county documents said. They require things like victim support, monitoring and frequent court appearances. Domestic violence cases can last anywhere from 30 days to three years.

These types of cases are also “emotionally complex” and “layered with significant impacts to families, particularly when children are involved, or the defendant has been the primary economic provide,” documents said.

While it is difficult for officials to determine exactly how many additional resources they will need to handle this influx, the group of county and court officials gathered to determine how to handle it made some guesses based on historical caseload data.

In total, including funding for judicial services pretrial, courts and probation, sheriff’s office, public defenders, the district attorney and building expansion to accommodate the case influx, the judicial district will need an additional $9.7 million for 2025 and $7.2 million for 2026.

Additionally, the 18th Judicial District needs 56 new staff members for this year and 67 for the following year, according to county documents.

In November, state agencies and departments submitted requests for budget increases to the state legislature to support the need for additional staffing, courtroom space, office space and other resources. 

The state legislature has indicated that it is unlikely to fund requests without corresponding cuts, according to county documents. Their funding decisions will be released in March or April.

“If additional resources are not allocated to the 18th Judicial District, it is unclear what prioritization of resources must be considered on an already overburdened system,” documents said.

County officials Tuesday said they are considering going back to Aurora City Council to request additional time to prepare for the shift, moving the start date to January of next year instead of July of this year.