Huerfano DA doesn’t have enough money to prosecute all their cases

HUERFANO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Third Judicial District Attorney in Huerfano County is dismissing cases because he says his office doesn't have enough money to prosecute them.

DA Henry Solano has dismissed nearly 350 cases since August.

While most of the dismissed cases are traffic infractions, some are drug, theft and state wildlife cases.

"It pains me to do any dismissals," Solano said. "We’ve been trying not to dismiss the more significant, important ones."

With only the help of his deputy district attorney and two supportive staff members, he says he doesn’t have the time to prosecute every case. Solano said he's worked 80-hour weeks for the last three years since he was elected.

"The only choice I have is to continue to handle cases inefficiently, ineffectively and risk licensure sanction - my predecessor  had that happen to him when he was underfunded - or start to dismiss cases," he said.

Solano had hoped to nearly triple the office's budget from $191,000 in 2019 to about $600,000 next year. However according to the Huerfano Journal World, next year's budget only gives him an increase of $60,000.

He said that might not be enough money to hire another prosecutor to help with his growing case load. Solano said Huerfano County had 159 felony cases when he started in 2017. The number of cases has doubled to nearly 320 felony cases so far this year.

In 2018, Huerfano County voters shot down a measure to increase taxes in order to better fund the DA's office. The Third Judicial District also covers Las Animas County.

Voters in Las Animas County voted to raise taxes to increase funding for the DA's office. The budget there will be about $990,000 next year, compared to a budget of only about $250,000 in Huerfano County.

Solano said he will be able to add four to five new staff members in Las Animas to help him handle the cases there. He said so far this year, he's had about 318 felony cases in Huerfano County; compared to about 308 felony cases in Las Animas County.

The population of Huerfano County is 6,662 according to the 2017 census. That's about half the size of Las Animas County's 14,238 residents. However the counties have a similar number of felony cases.

Solano said he hopes in the future, voters in Huerfano County will consider raising taxes to better fund his office.