To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Michelle Halstead, Director, Commissioners’ Office
Prepared By:
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Sara Overby, Management Analyst, Commissioners’ Office
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presenter
Presenter: Michelle Halstead, Director, Commissioners’ Office
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Subject:
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9:00 AM *Update on the Domestic Violence Case Transition to the 18th Judicial District
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The purpose of this study session is to provide an update on the transition of domestic violence cases from the City of Aurora Municipal Court to the 18th Judicial District and discuss next steps.
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Background and Discussion: Aurora City Council adopted a resolution in September 2024 to stop prosecuting domestic violence cases currently handled by the Aurora Municipal Court. The decision occurred in response to fiscal concerns and state legislation that impacts how municipal courts handle domestic violence cases. These cases will be transitioned to the 17th and 18th Judicial Districts for prosecution starting July 1, 2025, in response to outreach from the Board of County Commissioners and the Arapahoe County Justice Coordinating Committee. The city council resolution required their appointees to continue working with county stakeholders and provide a report to city council at the end of Q1 2025 on the progress of the transition plan.
At the direction of the Board of County Commissioners, staff from the commissioners’ office convened county partners over the last several months to understand the impacts of this transition to ensure cases are processed in a timely manner and justice is achieved. Representatives from the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the 18th Judicial District Combined Courts and Probation Department, the Colorado State Public Defender, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, Community Resources, and Finance Department began meeting to identify resource needs and opportunities to manage the influx of new cases.
The 18th Judicial District currently manages an average of 859 domestic violence cases annually; the transition of cases to Aurora means overall caseloads will double, resulting in significant impacts to the criminal justice system. See the attached white paper for a summary of the impacts and potential resource needs.
In November 2024, state agencies and departments submitted requests for budget increases to the State Legislature to support the increased number of FTE, courtroom space, office space, and other resource needs required to adequately prosecute cases. On January 7, 2025, Law360 reported that the Joint Budget Committee will not be funding requests for budget increases for judges and other staffing without proposed cuts to offset the increases.
Fiscal Impact: Given the fast implementation timeline and complex interactions of agencies in this transition, estimating resource needs has been difficult. The departments and agencies have been working with limited resources to fulfill existing case needs. This transition will further stretch already limited budgets and staff capacity.
Table 2 in the attached white paper displays estimated resource needs that were identified and calculated based on historical caseloads and represent additional needs beyond current funding.
Alignment with Strategic Plan:
☐Be fiscally sustainable
☒Provide essential and mandated service
☐Be community focused
Staff Recommendation: This update is for informational purposes, with the following recommended next steps:
• Provide an update to the Board of County Commissioners and other appointed leaders on convening efforts to date.
• Seek coordinated advocacy among local government and criminal justice partners to secure state financial resources.
• Schedule update with city appointees in advance of required city council update on convening efforts, resource constraints, and policy requests.
• Consider resource requests within existing budget process and timeline.
• Maintain stakeholder relationships and track progress to determine additional next steps.
Concurrence: N/A