People v. Carey.

No. 24PDJ092. 1/6/2025. Stipulation to Discipline.

February 5, 2025

The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved the parties’ stipulation to discipline and publicly censured Bruce Carpenter Carey (attorney registration number 18732), effective January 6, 2025.

In July 2024, while in the courtroom during a recess in his client’s criminal trial, Carey made “small talk” with two female student lawyers from the prosecutor’s office. During the conversation, Carey made inappropriate comments to the students. When Carey recognized the students’ curt responses, he says he recognized the comments were not welcome and immediately cut off the conversation. The students reported the statements, which were of a sexual nature, to their supervisor and said that the encounter made them both feel uncomfortable. The supervisor then raised the issue with the trial judge on the record, who advised Carey that the comments were inappropriate and directed Carey to only communicate with the supervisors going forward.

Through this conduct, Carey violated Colo. RPC 8.4(i) (a lawyer must not engage in conduct, in connection with the lawyer’s professional activities, that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know constitutes sexual harassment).