El Paso County Court busiest in the state

Colorado’s 4th Judicial District is the busiest in the state.

It averages 12 felony trials a month, according to the 4th judicial district attorney Dan May.

“I’ve never seen this many big cases all coming up at the same time,” said May.

In 2010, May said the district set a record number of trials.

“I got a call from the state Judicial District asking ‘what are you guys doing down there?'” said May.

In 2011, the court had more jury trials than in the history of the 4th judicial district, May said.

“Here in 2012, we are shattering those records. Part of it is giving direction to the team at the district attorney’s office of what cases we want to take a tough stand on,” he said.

Some of those cases include child abuse, violent offenses and habitual offenders.

Another contributing factor is the record number of homicides El Paso County had in 2011.

“Those are coming forth, but we had a lot of other high-profile cases,” said May.

The number of trials has stretched his office to the limit.

“When you are on trial, you are there long before the jurors ever see you and you are there late at night organizing for the next day,” May said.

Despite the overload, May said staying busy is a good thing.

“It’s holding the right people accountable for their crimes,” said May.

May said his office still offers plea bargaining for appropriate cases and is trying to do more with rehabilitation programs.