State: El Paso County judge doesn’t meet performance standards, shouldn’t be kept

El Paso County Judge Christopher Edward Acker is one of only two district judges in the entire state of Colorado who didn’t meet performance standards, and a state commission says he shouldn’t be a judge in the county.

The Fourth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance voted 4-1 to find that Acker does not meet performance standards, and the commission was specifically troubled by the scores Acker received in surveys submitted by attorneys and non-attorneys, according to the state’s Judicial Performance Evaluations for 2018.

According to the evaluation results, 62 percent of attorneys and 62 percent of non-attorneys said they believe Acker meets performance standards. Attorneys also rated Acker below average in every category other than diligence. The commission says the ratings among non-attorneys were lower.

The commission took those scores into account but also personally interviewed Acker, observed his courtroom, and reviewed his self-evaluation and a number of Acker’s written opinions.

Some of the comments that troubled the commission included statements that Acker displayed a lack of neutrality and that he can be condescending and rude to those who appear before him. The commission says those comments were considered to be outliers in the past, however, this year’s report says “such conduct is not acceptable.”

The commission concluded that “Judge Acker does not meet judicial performance standards and should not be retained as an El Paso County Court Judge.”

Acker wrote a response, saying he’s been “honored to serve as a law and order judge for almost 16 years.” He touted his record of not being overturned on appeal in a criminal case in the past decade, but he also appears to tout the 62 percent as a positive, declaring “Almost 2/3 of those who appear in front of me, attorneys and non-attorneys, agree I meet judicial performance standards.”

The only other district judge in the state to not meet performance standards was 18th Judicial District Judge Phillip L. Douglass, who presides over a criminal docket in Arapahoe County.

Acker graduated from Woodland Park High School in 1977 and the University of Northern Colorado in 1981. He graduated from law school at the University of Santa Clara in 1987.

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