The Colorado Supreme Court denied a request by 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley to delay her suspension Friday, rejecting arguments that immediately ceasing her practice as a lawyer would burden her financially and disrupt the work of her office.
Presiding Disciplinary Judge Bryon Large wrote in his order denying Stanley’s request that he was not swayed by claims that excluding Stanley before a ruling on her appeal or before her term expires in January would undermine public confidence in the justice system would damage or disrupt work. of prosecutors.
“Lawyers who serve as publicly elected officials are not subject to special, more lenient standards,” Large wrote. “In short, we refuse to be complicit in (Stanley’s) attempt to use her office as a shield after discovering that she has abused the power that comes from it.”
A Colorado disciplinary board took the rare step of suspending Stanley in September after finding she engaged in misconduct during and after the prosecution of Barry Morphew, who was charged in 2021 with the murder of his wife Suzanne.
Stanley dropped the charges in 2022 after a judge sanctioned prosecutors for violating discovery rules. Barry Morphew has maintained his innocence throughout the legal proceedings and is currently not charged in connection with his wife’s death.
The board found that Stanley made inappropriate comments to the media about the case, failed to adequately supervise prosecutors, caused discovery violations and initiated a retaliation investigation into the presiding judge.
Large ordered that Stanley’s suspension take effect no earlier than November 1.
An attorney for Stanley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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