Colorado Supreme Court upholds disbarment of former DA Linda Stanley
DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) – A divided Colorado Supreme Court voted 4-2 on Monday to uphold the disbarment of former District Attorney (DA) Linda Stanley based on serious ethical violations she made while prosecuting multiple high-profile cases.
In their ruling, the justices upheld most of the findings previously made against Stanley, concluding that her misconduct did indeed warrant her disbarment.
Stanley was elected in 2020 to serve as the DA for Colorado's 11th Judicial District, which includes Fremont, Chaffee, and Custer counties. She served just one term before she was disbarred following multiple instances of ethics violations.
Shortly after the beginning of her term, Stanley's office charged Barry Morphew with murdering his wife, Suzanne Morphew, following her disappearance in May 2020.
Stanley made several controversial public statements about the Morphew case while it was still pending, which a board found violated a Colorado law that prohibits prosecutors from making statements likely to heighten “public condemnation of the accused.”
In their ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court also found that Stanley abused her position by launching an internal investigation into former Fremont County District Judge Ramsey Lama after he issued rulings in the Morphew case that were unfavorable to her office.
According to records previously obtained by KRDO13, Stanley had elicited an investigator's help looking into Lama for alleged domestic violence – claims that were unsubstantiated. Her office ultimately dropped the Morphew case days later, just before it went to trial.
In May 2023, Stanley drew criticism for another case after making disparaging comments during an on-the-record interview with KRDO13 about the still-pending case of William Henry Jacobs, a man accused of killing a baby in his care.
“I’m going to be very blunt here. He has zero investment in this child. Zero. He’s watching that baby so he can get laid,” Stanley said.
The comments she made in the interview led to the case against Jacobs and the child's mother being dismissed less than a year later over what the state deemed was "outrageous government conduct."
READ MORE: Fremont Co. District Attorney believes accused baby killer got with baby’s mom just to ‘get laid’
Stanley was disbarred in September 2024 following a state ethics case. A lawsuit from Chaffee, Fremont, and Custer Counties followed in December, accusing her of using taxpayer money to pay her own legal fees.
In its Sept. 8 opinion, Colorado Supreme Court doubled down on previous board findings, ruling that her misconduct in the cases was enough to warrant her disbarment.
“Stanley abused her position as elected DA, seriously impeding the rights of defendants, the right to justice for alleged victims, and the right of Coloradans to adjudicate the guilt or innocence of alleged perpetrators of serious crime,” the court's Sept. 8 opinion read in part.
However, one allegation, which accused Stanley of failing to adequately supervise her team, was reversed after the court found her shortcomings didn't meet the threshold for an ethical violation.
Read the court's full opinion here.
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