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Twenty-second Judicial District Chief Judge Douglas Walker expressed frustration Thursday when an attorney under contract with the Colorado Office of Alternate Defense Counsel did not show up in court. This was after several hearings in recent weeks where Perez, 39, appeared in court wearing stripes and handcuffs, but had no attorney.
According to court documents regarding the burglary charges, Perez initially was represented by Durango attorney Mary Pero, but she had a conflict and withdrew from the case on Aug. 15. Durango attorney Kenneth Pace then represented Perez in several court hearings in August and October before withdrawing from the case on Nov. 13 because of conflicts.
Durango attorney Jason Eley, who is approved by the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel, was then appointed to the case. He withdrew, and on Dec. 4, Christian Hatfield, who also was approved as an alternate and practices in Durango and Farmington, was appointed. But he didn’t show up for a 9 a.m. court hearing on Thursday.
Walker said he’s not sure why Perez has been “snakebit” in these cases.
“Mr. Perez, I sort of kept my promise,” Walker said. “This time, I promise you will have an attorney present in court or there will be bench warrants issued, in which case you may be able to talk to your attorney ... in the break room.”
Perez was also scheduled for hearings at 11 a.m. Thursday, and Hatfield showed up for that docket. He told The Journal that he had just recently received the OADC contract, was not fully in the system yet and did not know about the 9 a.m. hearings. Walker withdrew the threat of bench warrants.
“I know Judge Walker – I do a lot of respondent parent work – so he understood what happened,” Hatfield said in a phone interview Friday.
He said he spoke to Perez on Thursday and is ready to represent him for five plea hearings set for Dec. 20.
“I’ve got them all now, and we’re reset for the 20th, and we’re hoping to resolve things,” Hatfield said.
The difficulty in finding a conflict-free public defender is more common in rural areas, said Darren Cantor, deputy director of the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel, which is a Colorado state agency. A case with several co-defendants makes it more complicated, he said.
A regional public defender’s office, like in Durango, is technically viewed as a single law firm, Cantor said. If one attorney from the public defender’s office represents one co-defendant, then all the other attorneys are conflicted in representing any of the other co-defendants.
“If we essentially share the same lawyer, then neither of us can feel like we’re getting treated fairly,” Cantor said.
Perez is one of six co-defendants in a burglary case. He and five others are suspected of taking trips to an unsecured property east of Cortez and stealing minibikes, farm equipment, power tools and a snowmobile during two weeks in June.
Since the public defender can only take one of those co-defendants, the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel was called to find a state-funded attorney for Perez, but Cantor said it took some time.
“It had taken several weeks for the clerk, and I to try to figure out who could take it and who couldn’t,” Cantor said. “Finally, we were able to find someone that could take it – which happens sometimes in these smaller communities.”
Cantor recalled a 2017 brawl at a children’s T-ball game at Parque de Vida in Cortez. Ten people were charged in that incident, and Cantor said several attorneys were flown in to represent suspects in misdemeanor cases.
“It’s actually cheaper for the state to fly them in from Denver than if they drive from Junction back and forth,” Cantor said.
He said it can be very difficult to find conflict-free attorneys in outlying areas of the state, particularly the corners and the entire eastern edge.
“Unfortunately, it’s just the nature of population,” Cantor said. “If I had more people in those areas, it would be easy.”
In addition to the burglary case, Perez awaits plea hearing in three municipal cases and faces three felony drug charges for allegedly taking a bag of meth into the county jail.
Perez was also mentioned in an affidavit for issuance of an arrest warrant filed in Montezuma County Court on Oct. 15 for Derrick Jim, who allegedly dropped a bag of cocaine in a court room at Montezuma County Combined Courts on Oct. 11 while Perez was in court. The affidavit said the two were seen talking to each other and Perez had acknowledged the drop.
sdolan@the-journal.com
