LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — Larimer County district judges Jolene Blair and Terry Gilmore recently filed paperwork to run in the retention election in November, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Blair’s “Declaration of Intent to Run for Retention” was filed a week ago today; Gilmore’s was filed Friday.
The two are the target of a non-retention campaign, Judicial Justice for Larimer County, organized largely in response to their conduct as prosecutors in the case of Tim Masters, who served 10 years in prison before his murder conviction was overturned in 2008.
Also indicating he’ll run for retention was 22nd Judicial District Judge Douglas Walker, who drew headlines earlier this year after he ordered a convicted murderer to appear for sentencing through using any means necessary. The suspect was Tasered and bound to a chair by sheriff’s deputies.
Blair, Gilmore and Walker are among 94 state judges and justices who now have declared their intent to run in the upcoming retention election. The full list is below. Only two, Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey and Douglas County Judge Michelle Marker, have announced they will step down from the bench and won’t seek retention.
Forty-seven judges and justices, including justices Alex Martinez and Nancy Rice, are nearing the end of their terms but have not yet declared whether they will stand for retention. They have another month to file their paperwork if they want to stay on the bench. If they don’t declare their intent to run by Aug. 2, the applicable judicial nominating commissions will have 30 days to forward a list of possible replacements to Gov. Bill Ritter. In the last two general elections, an average of 16.5 percent of Colorado’s judges opted to retire or otherwise step down rather than stand for retention.
Besides Blair, Gilmore and Walker, 26 judges declared in the past two weeks that they will stand for retention. They are: Stanley Brinkley, 15th Judicial District; Michael Cox, Adams County, Ethan Feldman, Arapahoe County; Sandra Gardner, Moffat County; Suzanne Grant, Crowley County; Jeff Herron, 7th Judicial District; Jeffrey Holmes, 18th Judicial District; William Hood, 2nd Judicial District; Julie Hoskins, 19th Judicial District; Daniel Kaup, 8th Judicial District; Timothy Kerns, Weld County; Douglas Manley, Otero County; Ben McClelland, Grand County; Michele Meyer, Weld County; Martha Minot, La Plata County; Patrick Murphy, 17th Judicial District; Dana Nichols, Weld County; Bruce Raaum, Mesa County; William Robbins, 2nd Judicial District; Sabino Romano, Adams County; Peter Schoon, Jr., Larimer County; Larry Stutler, Prowers County; Robert Tobias, Arapahoe County; Thomas Vance, Jefferson County; Sara Wagers-Johnson, Yuma County; Kimberly Wood, Costilla County.
Those highlighted in green in the chart below have declared they will stand for retention; those in red have announced they will not. Those not highlighted have until Aug. 2 to declare their intent to stand for retention.
