2022 Judicial Performance Review evaluation<\/a>, his docket as county judge comprised about 10% criminal cases, 30% misdemeanor cases, 35% traffic cases, 15% civil cases and 10% small claims cases.<\/p>\nIn the commission\u2019s overall evaluation, Fay met or exceeded each of the performance standards: case management, application and knowledge of law, communications, diligence, demeanor and fairness.<\/p>\n
The attorneys surveyed corroborated those scores in their own reviews, with the exception of rating Fay slightly below average when it came to his application and knowledge of law, and communications.<\/p>\n
Fay acknowledged that, and emphasized that his goal is to always be \u201csupremely prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I have been, but I will continue to do everything I can to be knowledgeable about the vast subject areas (required) on the bench,\u201d he said. \u201cOngoing education comes with studying on my own, reading resources that are provided for judges, going to trainings. I\u2019ve done all those things, and I continue to do those things as much as I\u2019m able to.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also serves as a district court magistrate and municipal court judge in Pagosa Springs, positions he has held since 2019. Additionally, he operates a private law practice, the Law Office of Justin P. Fay, LLC.<\/p>\n
Before becoming a judge, Fay worked as a deputy district attorney in the 6th Judicial District from 2006 to 2016.<\/p>\n
He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree from Colorado State University in 2003 and his law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2005.<\/p>\n
Fay, who lives in Durango with his wife and children, said he sees himself first and foremost as a member of the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think just because I\u2019ve been trusted in this capacity that I\u2019m better than anyone,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope at the end of the day everyone who comes before me feels heard and treated fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n
And at the end of the day \u2013 even with the robe and gavel \u2013 he\u2019s just like everyone else. You might catch him playing pickleball, riding his bike on one of the trails or plunging into the Animas River on a hot day.<\/p>\n
The books sitting on his nightstand are, to some degree, what one may expect from a judge: real-life stories of crime, murder and intrigue. At this moment, he is reading Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball, Corruption, and Murder by <\/em>Chris Enss and Howard Kazanjian; American Kingpin, The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road<\/em> by Nick Bilton; and a slightly \u201csofter\u201d book \u2013 The Lonely Planet\u2019s guide to Ireland, a nod to his own genealogy.<\/p>\nFay\u2019s appointment leaves a vacancy in Archuleta County Court that will need to be filled in the coming months.<\/p>\n
The annual salary for the position is $198,798.<\/p>\n
jbowman@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"will take bench Oct. 1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1078,28,1646,1515],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-6th-judicial-district","tag-headlines","tag-judge","tag-judiciary-system-of-justice"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16817"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20408,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16817\/revisions\/20408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16817"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}