People v. Stanley.
No. 23PDJ041. 9/10/2024. Amended Opinion Imposing Sanctions.
November 5, 2024
Following a disciplinary hearing, a hearing board majority disbarred Linda Stanley (attorney registration number 45298). Though the disbarment would ordinarily take effect on October 15, 2024, the actual effective date may be later by operation of CRCP 242.35.
Following a Chaffee County woman’s highly publicized disappearance, Stanley, who was the newly elected district attorney of Colorado’s 11th Judicial District, brought first degree murder charges against the woman’s spouse. During the prosecution, Stanley made three improper extrajudicial statements about the case to the media. These statements threatened to prejudice the defendant and undermine the public’s interest in justice, and contributed in part to a judicial ruling changing venue in the case. Through this misconduct, Stanley violated Colo. RPC 3.6(a) (a lawyer who participates in the investigation or litigation of a matter must not make an extrajudicial statement that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know will be disseminated by means of public communication and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding) and Colo. RPC 3.8(f) (prosecutors must refrain from making extrajudicial comments that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused unless the comments serve a legitimate law enforcement purpose, are necessary to inform the public of the nature and extent of the prosecutor’s action, or are permitted under Colo. RPC 3.6(b)).
At the same time, Stanley did not adequately supervise the prosecution of the case. She failed to timely direct adequate administrative resources to process discovery, leading to a series of judicially imposed sanctions against the prosecution for discovery violations. She failed to take reasonable measures to establish a leadership structure that ensured accountability within the prosecution team, with the result that the prosecution team overlooked important projects in the case. And she failed to intervene when the prosecution team was given an opportunity to cure its deficient endorsements for expert witnesses, the majority of whom were eventually excluded. Through this conduct, Stanley violated Colo. RPC 5.1(b) (a lawyer with direct supervisory authority over another lawyer must make reasonable efforts to ensure that the other lawyer conforms to the Rules of Professional Conduct).
After the presiding judge issued several adverse rulings less than two months before jury selection, Stanley instructed her chief investigator to interview the judge’s former spouse to determine whether the judge committed domestic abuse. Even though she had no credible evidence to believe that the judge had ever engaged in such criminal conduct, Stanley ordered the investigation in an effort to uncover information about the judge that would require him to recuse from the case. Shortly after the interview, which revealed that the judge had never abused his former spouse, Stanley dismissed the case without prejudice. Through this conduct, Stanley attempted to violate Colo. RPC 8.4(d) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice), thereby contravening Colo. RPC 8.4(a) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to attempt to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct).
In a bid to rehabilitate her relationship with the media, Stanley later agreed to sit for a videotaped interview with a local reporter. During that interview, which Stanley reasonably should have known was on the record and would be publicly disseminated, she again made improper extrajudicial statements about two defendants criminally charged in the death of a 10‑month-old baby. She effectively pronounced that one of the defendants was guilty, revealed inadmissible details about the defendant’s sexually based juvenile offenses, and impugned the motives and character of the defendants. Two judicial officers, ruling independently, concluded that Stanley’s extrajudicial statements amounted to outrageous government conduct so severely prejudicing the defendants that the judiciary was required to dismiss each defendant’s criminal case. Through this conduct, Stanley again violated Colo. RPC 3.6(a) and Colo. RPC 3.8(f).