A judge from northeastern Colorado used his position to aid a friend across multiple cases, and ordered the pretrial release of her boyfriend who was accused of felonies, disciplinary officials alleged in a filing on Tuesday.

District Court Judge Justin B. Haenlein, who presides in the 13th Judicial District of Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties, has been off the bench since the Colorado Supreme Court suspended him in November pending the disciplinary investigation. Last week, an adjudicative panel convened and, for the first time in state history, livestreamed the proceedings in Haenlein’s disciplinary case.

The three-member panel focused on the impact of Amendment H, which voters overwhelmingly approved in November to bring greater transparency to the discipline process and greater independence for those adjudicating formal proceedings. Although Haenlein and the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline announced they reached an agreed-upon narrative of the facts and an agreed-upon consequence — Haenlein’s resignation — the panel ordered the commission to file a document containing the original allegations.

“I think the panel members feel strongly that at least they would like a formal charging document so they can use that as a benchmark to determine whether the panel members’ accepting the stipulation is not just in the parties’ interest, but in the public’s interest,” said Weld County District Court Judge Vincente G. Vigil, who is the judge member of the panel.

In an April 15 filing, the commission alleged Haenlein violated four rules of judicial conduct through an undisclosed relationship with one of his former clients.

Haenlein became a judge in January 2022 after practicing in criminal defense and child welfare cases. He represented a client, identified as “Jane Doe,” in multiple criminal cases and allegedly exchanged “sexual and flirtatious text messages.” Haenlein would also help Doe with certain living expenses.

At the time of Haenlein’s appointment, he represented Doe in a domestic relations case. Although he withdrew as her lawyer, Haenlein allegedly used the Judicial Department’s case management system to give legal advice — “interspersed with explicit sexts” — to Doe about the case.

In July 2022, Doe appeared before Haenlein as a defendant in a felony drug case. Haenlein disclosed Doe was his prior client but did not raise their intimate relationship. Neither the defense nor the prosecution asked Haenlein to recuse and he presided over Doe’s case for two years, which resolved in a guilty plea. He made multiple procedural rulings and ultimately sentenced her.

While Doe was a defendant in the criminal case Haenlein was handling, she allegedly texted him that her boyfriend would also be appearing as a defendant in Haenlein’s courtroom. She asked for his release. The boyfriend was accused of a drug felony in Colorado and an aggravated assault felony out of Kansas. Judges previously set bond at $7,500 and $10,000, respectively.

The defendant’s attorney asked Haenlein to release him pending trial on a personal recognizance bond. The district attorney’s office objected, but Haenlein granted the defense’s request. He did not disclose his personal connection to the case.

The judicial discipline commission alleged it was “objectively inappropriate” for Haenlein to release a defendant under the circumstances.

The complaint claimed Haenlein’s improper use of the judiciary’s case management system to aid Doe, his unauthorized legal advice to her, his undisclosed connections to cases and his failure to recuse all amounted to violations.

The adjudicative panel, at its prior livestreamed status conference, ordered Haenlein to file a response to the commission’s allegations.

Although the agreed-upon narrative the parties submitted to the panel is not yet public, Jeff Walsh, the special counsel for the commission, disclosed at the status conference that the complaint his office would file “would largely mirror” the document the parties were asking the panel to approve.

Elected District Attorney Travis Sides and the state public defender’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the complaint or the effect of Haenlein’s alleged actions on cases.

Vigil, the Weld County judge, said further filings in the case will be posted on his court’s website.