Will taxpayers pay for the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s legal fees?
FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - The 11th Judicial District Attorney, Linda Stanley, is set to be disbarred in 34 days following a Colorado Supreme Court ruling.
RELATED: 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley disbarred
Stanley's office, which covers Fremont, Chaffee, Custer and Park counties in southern Colorado is tied to the botched prosecution of Barry Morphew, who was previously charged with the murder of his wife Suzanne in 2021.
It was her misconduct and public comments within the Morphew case, along with her comments to KRDO13 Investigates about a formerly accused baby killer, that led state disciplinary authorities to rule she no longer should practice law.
"He's watching that baby so he can get laid. That's it. And have a place to sleep. I'm sorry to be that blunt, but honest to god, that's what's going on." Stanley said in an interview with KRDO13 Investigates in August of 2023, about a man William Jacobs who was previously accused of killing his girlfriends baby.
In June, Jacobs had his charges dropped, due to Stanley's comments muddling the possibility of a fair trial.
The ruling on Tuesday deeming Stanley should be disbarred, also stated she is responsible for the fees of her court proceedings. KRDO13 Investigates looked into whether taxpayers are on the hook to cover those legal bills.
Documents obtained by KRDO13 Investigates uncovered nine different checks that were written by DA Stanley's office from December 2023, through March 2024, totaling over $53,000 dollars paid out to attorneys from her taxpayer-funded budget.
Fremont County Commissioners sent a letter back in June of this year, warning DA Stanley that using taxpayer dollars for her legal fees from her ethics hearings and trial, would be a "misappropriation of funds" and that she needed to file the bills as taxable income instead.
Commissioner's tell KRDO13 Investigates they have not heard back from Stanley on the letter, and in light of the pending disbarment, Commissioners are now beginning the process of tracing all of Stanley's expenditures to see if she has at any point reimbursed herself with county funds for her case.
"If it's the taxpayers that paid for that, or whatever the taxpayers did ultimately pay for, [Fremont] County and the other three counties will go get that money back." said Commissioners Kevin Grantham.
KRDO13 Investigates was unable to reach Stanley for comment on Wednesday.
RELATED: District Attorney Linda Stanley wants to finish term after disbarment ruling, may appeal
Her attorney tells KRDO13 Investigates he is not sure if she will personally pay for the bills. He adds there is a law that allows elected officials to be reimbursed for reasonable expenses related to their job.
