The federal court system will make it a rule to hold hearings and trials in Durango, it announced this week in a news release.
“The designation will mean that a detained defendant will be held locally, and that all hearings and the trial, presumptively, will be held in that location,” Clerk of Colorado District Court Jeffrey P. Colwell said. “In the past, residents of the Western Slope, including members of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute (Indian) Tribe, have had to travel to Denver, more than 350 miles away, for hearings and trials.”
Durango has had a U.S. District Courtroom in Bodo Park, where Magistrate Judge David West has handled some criminal and civil cases.
La Plata County recently signed a 10-year lease with the U.S. General Services Administration for space in the La Plata County Courthouse. The space will undergo significant renovations, including office space for West and the visiting district judge as well as a courtroom more suitable for grand juries and jury trials. Renovations are expected to start in early 2016 and be done by the end of 2016.
Holding the trials in Durango will require a magistrate judge to designate a case as a Durango case, which requires a finding that the defendant, witnesses or events surrounding the charges are tied to Durango or nearby communities. Once the case is thus-designated, U.S. District of Colorado Chief Judge Marcia S. Krieger will preside over Durango cases that go to trial, at least through the end of the year.
Grand Junction is getting a U.S. District Court of its own. Senior Judge John Kane will preside over trials there for the remainder of 2015.
