James Warren Wilson
Jim Wilson, district attorney for the 22nd Judicial District in Montezuma and Dolores Counties, said he will not step down after his DUI arrest in Buena Vista last month, reports Steve Grazier of The Cortez Journal. Wilson will appear April 7 in Chaffee County Court for a formal advisement of five misdemeanor charges.
LAW WEEK PHOTO BY JAMIE COTTEN
Attorneys David Rigsby, left, and Jennifer Schlatter peer down from late artist Angelo di Benedetto’s mural, which, as of now, has no permanent home when the Colorado Judicial Building demolition begins May 3.
By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — The crowning work of one of Colorado’s most important artists hides in plain sight in the heart of downtown Denver.
Motorists on 14th Avenue might miss it as they drive by, but pedestrians strolling in Civic Center Park sometimes take a detour to get a better view of the enormous mural that sprawls across the ceiling of the open-air first floor of the Colorado Judicial Building.
On any given day, a handful of curious passersby walk beneath the mural, gazing up at the dozens of historical figures that float on the mural’s vivid orange and yellow background. They pick out the more familiar faces — there’s Abraham Lincoln, there’s Martin Luther King — and then move on.
But to some people in Colorado’s arts community and legal profession, “Justice through the Ages” by late Central City artist Angelo di Benedetto is more than an interesting adornment on an otherwise gray government building; to them, it is a treasure.
“Angelo di Benedetto was a giant in Colorado art, and his mural at the court building is definitely one of the finest works of public art in the state,” said Michael Paglia, longtime Westword art critic and author of several books on Colorado artists.
“Angelo di Benedetto was probably among the best, or the best, figure painter in Colorado,” said Hugh Grant, director of the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative arts. “We have quite a number of his paintings, and we have many, many figure drawings by him, some of which are just breathtaking.”
Di Benedetto was “Mr. Art” in Colorado during the mid-20th century, said Steve Savageau, who owns an art gallery in Denver. ”The mural was his masterpiece,” Savageau said.
The mural, also known as “Lawgivers,” will be on public view for just a few more months. The judicial building, the mural’s home for more than three decades, will be torn down this summer to make way for a new courts complex. The mural’s 74 panels are to be removed from their spot overlooking the skylight of the Supreme Court Law Library and be put in storage — artistic limbo.
It’s unknown when, where and in what form they will next be displayed. “All options are open” for the mural’s future, said Bill Mosher of Trammell Crow Co., which is managing construction of the new building.
These options include displaying the mural’s panels separately rather than as a whole mural.
“My obligation at this point in time is to document and secure and store these [panels] so that we leave the options open for their future disposition, whether it’s in the new building or somewhere else,” Mosher said.
Lawyers ‘looking skyward’
Attorney David Rigsby of Denver wants to make sure the mural is prominently displayed when the Supreme Court moves in 2013 to its new home in the Ralph L. Carr Judicial Complex, which is being designed by Denver’s Fentress Architects and will be built on the block now occupied by the judicial building and Colorado History Museum.
Rigsby is enlisting others to join him in encouraging the judicial branch to find a place for the mural inside the Carr complex, or failing that, to help find another suitable place for it. Joining him in the effort is Jennifer Schlatter, an intellectual property attorney with Allen & Vellone who has experience representing artists.
“My hope is not so much to apply legal analysis or legal pressure,” Rigsby said, “but to get some people involved who know their way around the system, to apply some knowhow into roping in people who care about the mural to do the right thing.”
Rigsby, general counsel with Lincoln Trust Co., has art and the law flowing through his veins. His father, also named David Rigsby, was an artist who founded the Evergreen Arts Center; his mother, Linda Palmieri, was a Jefferson County judge. He also has a personal connection to di Benedetto and the mural. Rigsby and his family were friends and neighbors of di Benedetto’s in Central City during the time he began work on the mural in 1976.
“Angelo didn’t paint the mural to be shown in a museum or gallery setting, but to be experienced in a public space where he knew people would be in deep contemplation,” Rigsby said.
“Lawyers rehearsing their oral arguments one last time while they paced beneath the building, law students cramming for the bar in the library, petitioners nearing the end of a long road — for over 30 years people have been looking skyward to calm their nerves, muster their strength, or catch their breath, and Angelo knew their gaze would be met with this.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF PHYLLIS MONTROSE
Angelo di Benedetto spent a year and a half painting the mural.
The artist
Though di Benedetto died in 1992, he has still has many friends and admirers who share Rigsby’s enthusiasm. Diminutive in physical stature, di Benedetto was a larger-than-life figure in Central City and the Denver art world.
Born in 1913 to Italian immigrant parents in Paterson, N.J., di Benedetto got his art degree from the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City and afterward trained at the School of the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps (later the U.S. Air Force) before World War II, and served during that conflict in Haiti and Africa — an experience that spurred a lifelong abhorrence of war.
While in Africa, he met and befriended Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. This was just one of the many luminaries with whom di Benedetto rubbed elbows: He chatted about reincarnation with Albert Einstein at Princeton, served as foreman on one of Diego Rivera’s murals in Mexico City, and used his own living room to host a performance by experimental composer John Cage.
Di Benedetto’s last stop in the Air Force was at Denver’s Buckley Field in 1946. He stayed in Colorado the rest of his life, heading to the mountains to transform a rundown Central City warehouse into a giant art studio. He was well-loved in his adopted hometown — “you walked down the street with him and everybody knew him,” Rigsby said —and was active in the community. He served as police magistrate in the 1950s and twice ran for mayor.
Di Benedetto was a prolific artist and teacher. He was highly regarded for his abstract paintings, figure drawings, sculpture and ceramics, which were exhibited in museums across the country. A number of his works are now on display at the Kirkland Museum’s downtown gallery and exhibition at the Arvada Center. His art was reproduced in two Life features, Newsweek, The New Yorker and National Geographic.
Di Benedetto was a strong proponent of public art. In 1968, he organized a group of nine artists to create sculptures for Denver’s Burns Park at Colorado Boulevard and Alameda Parkway, some of which are still standing. Former Gov. John Love appointed him to the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities and gave him an award for his contributions to the art and artists of Colorado.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PHYLLIS MONTROSE
Angelo di Benedetto was aided in the painting by chief assistant Phyllis Montrose and four others.
The mural — then
The mural at the judicial building was by far the largest work di Benedetto painted in his long career. At 20 feet by 150 feet, it was called at its debut “the largest figurative mural in America.”
It was paid for with a $100,000 gift to the judicial branch from retired Denver attorney Otto Friedrichs and his wife, Helen. The Supreme Court justices in 1976 selected di Benedetto from a field of 22 candidates to paint the mural for the judicial building then under construction.
The justices originally asked for a mural depicting the history of law in Colorado; di Benedetto persuaded them to expand the mural’s focus to include the great lawgivers from across the world. The artist and justices pitched ideas back and forth before settling on around 60 people — from ancient Babylonian King Hammurabi to former U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren — to enshrine in the painting. Di Benedetto placed “the spirit of the law” at the center of the mural: a bright geometric design that radiated warm color across the figures.
It took di Benedetto and five assistants 17½ months to paint the mural onto panels at his Central City studio. “Justice through the Ages” was dedicated amid fanfare on Columbus Day 1978.
“The mural is an idealistic concept of people of all races who have contributed to the growth and development of human rights and justice,” read the program at the dedication ceremony. “It is the hope of the artist that this painting will endure and give knowledge and pride to all races for their similar desires for justice and peace.”
Colorado artist Phyllis Montrose was di Benedetto’s chief assistant for the mural. Montrose, a surrealist painter whose works are displayed near di Benedetto’s in the Kirkland Museum, met him as a teenager in the 1940s when he was her teacher. In 1977-78, she drove from Denver to Central City to spend three days a week working on the mural.
It was a labor of love, Montrose said earlier this month. She was paid “$25 a day and lunch” consisting of “weak soup and a thin slice of rye bread.” At night she slept in a sleeping bag on the studio floor.
Di Benedetto drafted each figure and painted the faces, while Montrose and the assistants painted the flowing robes and other details. She remembers painting the curls of Hammurabi’s beard and spending days painting all the feet. The mural was “painted a quarter at a time,” she said, “and one-quarter of the mural filled up all the vertical space in the studio.”
The working conditions could be grueling.
“I developed a stooped squat [painting] all those draperies — up, down, up, down. It was wonderful for my legs,” she said.
Sometimes the justices would drop by to inspect their progress.
“They kept coming up in groups of three or four. Angelo was so funny. He said, ‘Michelangelo had the Pope, and I have the Supreme Court,’” Montrose said.
Di Benedetto’s dog would also prowl the studio.
“There I would be lying under the scaffolding in wads of dust and dog hair, with a large red setter who had gas. I’m painting feet, the dog is gassing me and the justices are hounding Angelo,” she remembered with a laugh.
The work was arduous, but Montrose said she was very pleased with the finished mural.
“If it ever got the public attention it deserves, it’s very important. It raises the masses; it honors them. It has heroes from all races in it,” she said. “I think it’s uplifting for downtrodden people to see themselves given dignity and honored.”
LAW WEEK PHOTO BY JAMIE COTTEN
Supreme Court library assistant Ginger Bilthuis sits in the library beneath the mural. The library closes April 5 and will reopen in smaller quarters in The Denver Post building on April 19. “I love this place. I’m a little bit sad, but you have to let go of the old horse and buggy.”
The mural — now
While di Benedetto hoped his mural would endure to inspire Coloradans, it is attached to a judicial building that Gov. Bill Ritter has called “outdated and obsolete from the day [it] opened.” The state historical society will help the judicial branch preserve the mural while the building is demolished, Mosher said.
“They are helping us with the archival process and the documentation and photography” of the mural panels, he said, but the historical society has declined an offer to acquire the mural.
The judicial branch will put the mural into storage while it works out a plan for its future display. The conceptual designs for the exterior of the new Carr judicial complex don’t include a place for the mural. Interior design of the Carr complex has not begun, Mosher said, leaving open the possibility it will be incorporated there. As the interior design comes together over the next six months, the branch will decide whether there’s a place for it inside the courts building.
But the size of the mural presents challenges. It’s 50 yards long in two parallel lines of 37 panels each, as it’s currently displayed, and would be 100 yards long if the 74 panels were laid out in one line.
“Currently there’s not a single space where the entire mural could be displayed as it is today,” said Fred Schultz of Trammell Crow, who works with Mosher in planning the Carr complex. “We don’t have anything that big or that long, so they would be somehow dispersed throughout the facility if we can find places for it. The best thing would be to find a benefactor or a destination that this thing could be set up in the way it’s intended now, but we haven’t found a home for it.”
Montrose agrees it would be best to display the mural as originally intended. Separating the panels would be a “terrible idea,” she said.
“You can’t break up a cohesive work,” Montrose said. “That would make it into a historical artifact.”
Savageau, who bought most of di Benedetto’s estate, elaborated on that idea.
“Breaking them down into panels — this is not an Enstrom candy. This has a unified structure,” Savageau said. “The whole idea was the spirit of the law in the center of the painting and then the relationship of the spirit of the law to the various adherents to it.”
If the mural can’t be displayed in its entirety at the Carr complex, those who knew di Benedetto said, the next best thing would be to move the whole mural to another place where law touches people’s lives, like a courthouse, law library or law school in Colorado. But to the mural’s fans, that is a fallback.
“I think the approach that best recognizes the historic importance of the mural to Colorado and the law would be to find a way to incorporate the mural into the Ralph Carr justice center,” Rigsby said.
By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — Starting in May, digital recordings of oral arguments before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will be available to all who request them, the court ordered Friday. Oral arguments have been recorded for years, but recordings were for court use only. “This new general order basically turns that on its head,” said Clerk of Court Elisabeth Shumacher. Those who would like a copy of an oral argument will file a motion with court, which will send the recording via e-mail as an MP3 attachment. The change in the local rules is provisional, Shumacher said, but is expected to be made permanent next year. Several other U.S. circuits allow public access to recordings; some charge a fee and some post them online. The 10th Circuit has ruled that recordings will be available for free, but by request only.
Read the order here:
order95-1
The long-running Roadless Rule case will be argued Wednesday before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, reports Bob Berwyn of the Summit Voice. The U.S. Forest Service established the rule in 2001 to forbid construction of new roads on 58 million acres of federal land. The rule was applauded by environmental groups but criticized by the mining and logging industries. The State of Wyoming and mining groups successfully challenged the Roadless Rule in Wyoming federal court, prompting U.S. Judge Clarence Brimmer to enjoin enforcement of the rule in 2008. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, supported by environmental group EarthJustice, are appealing that decision.
A three-judge panel composed of Judges Stephen Anderson, Jerome Holmes and Michael Murphy will decide the case. Immediately before hearing oral arguments in the Roadless Rule case, the same panel will hear arguments in the appeal of the Rocky Flats class-action lawsuit. Two defense contractors are appealing a judgment ordering them to pay nearly a billion dollars in damages. A jury in the Colorado federal court in 2006 found that radioactive pollution released by the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant lowered property values for more than 12,000 nearby property-owners.
By Alicia McNally, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER–Closing arguments for the Willie Clark trial began at 1 p.m. today. The case then moves to the jury for deliberation.
Clark is the suspect who allegedly murdered Denver Bronco Darrent Williams in a drive-by shooting on New Year’s Day in 2007.
Prosecutors wrapped up their rebuttal at 10 a.m. Tuesday. They’ve contended throughout the trial that the shooting was caused by an altercation at a nightclub where Clark and Williams were celebrating with their separate groups of friends. Among their witnesses included Denver Broncos Elvis Dumervil and Brandon Marshall, who were with Williams at the club, as well as some of Clark’s closest Crips gang associates. One of those associates, Daniel “Ponytail” Harris, said he sat in the backseat and watched Clark shoot out the passenger seat of a white Chevy Tahoe while driving.
They’ve also shown the jury a glimpse of the fear felt on the stand by some witnesses. One of the witness who initially refused to testify eventually agreed to talk in the prosecution’s rebuttal.
“Do you have concerns about testifying?” Prosecutor Tim Twining asked the witness, who due to safety issues can only be referred to as Julian.
“A lot of concerns,” Julian replied.
“What are those concerns?” he asked.
“The safety of my children, my mother, my ex-wife and my son,” he said.
However, Clark’s attorneys Darren Cantor and Abe Hutt have argued the credibility of witnesses like Harris because of their history of lying under oath and the prosecution’s attempts at undermining Clark’s credibility because of his gang affiliations.
“This case all from the beginning has been about gang code of silence and if there is a leg up here, it’s that the jury has heard that over and over and over again for two weeks,” Hutt said.
An exasperated Judge Christina Habas has repeated several times the difficulty of handling a case that is “saturated with witness intimidation.”
“In all the years I’ve done this job, I’ve never seen a case, not once where credibility was so obvious one way or another,” she said outside of the jury’s presence. “I’ m leaving the credibility to this jury. To twelve people except for one.”
UPDATE: Of the 18 jurors originally hearing the case, Judge Christina Habas dismissed two of them. Check out Denver Post’s Felisa Cardona’s interview with one of them.
Scott Matheson
President Barack Obama has nominated Scott M. Matheson, Jr. of Utah to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Matheson is a professor at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. He was formerly U.S. attorney for Utah, the state’s 2004 Democratic candidate for governor and the University of Utah’s law school dean. If the U.S. Senate approves his nomination, Matheson would succeed Michael W. McConnell on the bench of the Denver-based 10th Circuit. McConnell retired in August 2009.
Matheson’s full Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire is published here:
ScottMatheson-PublicQuestionnaire
By Alicia McNally, LAW WEEK COLORADO
A third witness has been jailed for refusing to testify against Willie Clark.
Clark is charged as being the gunman in the 2007 murder of Denver Bronco cornerback Darrent Williams. His involvement in the Denver-based Tre Tre Crips gang may influence the witness’ concerns.
Because of a recent burglary and other threats to the witness’ family that he claims is related to his testimony, he chose not to take the stand despite an order from Judge Christina Habas. The witness, the only one refusing to testify who brought representation, said that he would take the stand on the condition that his full name would not be published.
Clark’s defense and an attorney representing The Denver Post argued that the witness’ name has already been published in a public witness list and stated in opening statements available online. They offered to publish only his first name, but the witness still refused.
“Simply because it was made public at one point does not mean that there isn’t very real and present danger that would become imminent for my client if [his name] were published,” said David Kaplan, of Denver firm Haddon Morgan & Foreman and the lawyer representing the witness.
Law Week Colorado will not reveal the name of the witness due to the nature of his concerns.
“Don’t deny the people this critical evidence,” argued prosecutor Tim Twining.
But Habas said she could not grant the witness’ request because the name had already been revealed. Despite her empathy for the witness’ concerned for the safety of his family, she said she could not deny Mr. Clark’s right to a fair trial.
“I cannot require Mr. Clark to give up any portion of his rights to a fair trial by treating [this witness] differently than any other witness,” Habas said on Wednesday, when the issue was first brought to the court’s attention. “I cannot have private testimony. I can’t have witnesses tell me how to run their testimony.”
Two other witnesses, Mario Anderson and Kataina “Markie” Jackson-Keeling, have been jailed on similar issues since Feb. 24. They will remain in the Denver County Jail until they agree to testify.
“This is typical in a gang case,” said Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May, who is not involved in the trial but knowledgeable about prosecuting gang-related cases. “If they do talk to you and lie, that can be accessory for first-degree murder. If they say nothing, there’s nothing they can do.”
UPDATE: The prosecution wrapped up their case early Thursday afternoon. The defense is expected to begin their case Friday.
LAW WEEK COLORADO
Do you think Colorado’s e-filing system should remain with LexisNexis or be taken in-house by the Colorado Judicial Department?
That’s among the questions Law Week Colorado is asking attorneys its readers. Take our survey here. It’s seven questions and should take only 1-2 minutes to complete.
The question of who should operate the state’s e-filing system will be the subject of a special House Business Affairs & Labor Committee meeting next week.
A potential witness in the Willie Clark trial is so apprehensive about testifying that he wants the media to not publish his name and the court sketch artist to not draw his face, 9News reports. The news came to light outside of the jury’s presence during the mid-morning break.
By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — A national Christian legal group filed an appeal last week in a lawsuit against Gov. Bill Ritter over state funding of abortion providers. The Arizona-based group argues that under Ritter’s administration the state awarded $18 million in contracts to Alliance Defense Fund Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains Services Corporation and Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center.
The ADF claims the contracts violated the state’s 1984 Abortion Funding Prohibition Amendment. “Colorado voters amended the state constitution to prohibit tax dollar subsidies to abortion providers, so it’s the right decision to take this to the court of appeals,” said Barry Arrington, the Washington, D.C.-based lawyer representing ADF on appeal. Denver District Court Chief Judge Larry Naves dismissed the lawsuit in January, finding that the plaintiff, Colorado taxpayer Mark Hotaling, lacks standing.
Joshua Urquhart of the attorney general’s office represents Ritter and Jim Martin, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; Dean Heizer and Kevin Paul of Heizer Paul represent Planned Parenthood; and Ed Ramey of Isaacson Rosenbaum represents Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center.
