{"id":23311,"date":"2025-02-26T19:36:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T02:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-judge-superintendents-diversion-agreement-is-slap-on-the-wrist\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:33:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:33:57","slug":"montezuma-judge-superintendents-diversion-agreement-is-slap-on-the-wrist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-judge-superintendents-diversion-agreement-is-slap-on-the-wrist\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma judge: Superintendent\u2019s diversion agreement is \u2018slap on the wrist\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u201cThis
\u201cThis looks to me like a slap on the wrist in response to a very significant allegation,\u201d Judge Ian MacLaren says to Superintendent Tom Burris (left) at the Montezuma Combined Courts on Tuesday, Feb. 25. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Montezuma County Judge Ian MacLaren on Tuesday faced criticism from both the prosecutor and defense lawyer for \u201cinappropriate\u201d and \u201cunconstitutional\u201d behavior after he described a school superintendent\u2019s diversion agreement as a \u201cslap on the wrist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 Superintendent Harry (Tom) Burris appeared in court to approve the diversion agreement. He was charged last year with a Class 2 misdemeanor for failing to report alleged sexual abuse of a student by a teacher. An investigation then found no abuse occurred.<\/p>\n

In the diversion agreement, Burris is required to create a reporting safety plan for the district, and receive additional training on the mandatory reporting law. If he meets those requirements, the charges will be dismissed.<\/p>\n

MacLaren accepted the agreement filed by the 22nd Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office on Feb. 6 and gave \u201cthe people the opportunity to explain why they feel a diversion agreement is appropriate in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a fair outcome that we would offer to any defendant with no criminal history who is accused of a low-level misdemeanor crime, regardless of their status in the community,\u201d Assistant District Attorney Justin Pierce said when it was filed.<\/p>\n

\"Harry
Harry (Tom) Burris.<\/span>Bailey M. Duran<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In court on Tuesday, Pierce underscored the separation of powers within the system and equated the DA\u2019s Office to the executive branch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court can no more require the DA to give his reasons here than a court can require a Colorado governor to give his reasons for failing to grant a pardon,\u201d Pierce said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court is in noncompliance with the law,\u201d he said, and \u201crequesting for an explanation is unconstitutional.\u201d He asked the court to \u201cimmediately stay the proceedings for six months,\u201d or pause proceedings.<\/p>\n

MacLaren said they were \u201cunder no obligation to offer an explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In August, six months after the the agreement\u2019s start date of Feb. 6, the agreement will expire, and the court will convene to see whether Burris complied with it. From there, the court will decide whether to dismiss and seal the case.<\/p>\n

MacLaren continued with his criticism of the agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite frankly, I\u2019m not in a position where I can do anything about this diversion agreement,\u201d MacLaren said. \u201cLegally, I have to stay proceedings. But let me make a couple comments about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacLaren started by saying that if the agreement had been presented as a plea bargain and not as a diversion, \u201cgiven the nature of this case and allegations, the court would absolutely not accept\u201d a plea.<\/p>\n

The allegations of the case were \u201cvery very concerning to the court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA juvenile student and a teacher were involved in a sexual relationship. It is alleged that a report was made to the RE-1 School Board, and it is alleged that Mr. Burris, the superintendent of the school district, failed to report those allegations to law enforcement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The parents of the juvenile wrote a letter that \u201cindicates the victim was adamantly opposed to a diversion agreement in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community puts incredible trust in educators,\u201d and they have important \u201croles as mandatory reporters,\u201d MacLaren said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting here, I\u2019m very disturbed that those reports weren\u2019t made,\u201d MacLaren said. \u201cLooking at the diversion agreement, this looks to me to be a slap on the wrist.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the agreement, Burris is charged $83 in fees and is required to complete a mandated-reporter training. Under Colorado law, \u201cmandatory reporting\u201d requires certain professionals, including educators and social workers, to report any suspected child abuse or neglect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not exactly clear what that training is, but my assumption is it\u2019s the same training that\u2019s given anyways to educators, to coaches,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn essence, as I said, this looks to me like a slap on the wrist in response to a very significant allegation,\u201d MacLaren said.<\/p>\n

When MacLaren finished, Burris asked, \u201cMay we talk sometime?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Mr. Burris,\u201d MacLaren said. \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside the court, Assistant DA Pierce questioned MacLaren\u2019s experience and judgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIan has no experience as a prosecutor and he doesn\u2019t understand the risk at trial,\u201d he said, adding that his speech made it clear he should\u2019ve recused himself from the case.<\/p>\n

Burris\u2019 defense attorney, David Illingworth, emailed The Journal<\/em> later on with a comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am appalled and outraged by the judge\u2019s totally inappropriate comments at the hearing,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout hearing a single speck of evidence, the judge trampled all over the fundamental precept that you are always presumed innocent until proven otherwise by a jury of your peers,\u201d Illingworth said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing forward, I intend to pursue every legal option to ensure my client gets an impartial judge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prosecutor and Burris\u2019 defender call MacLaren\u2019s comments \u2018inappropriate\u2019 and \u2018unconstitutional\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,29,76],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-u-s-22nd-judicial-district"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23311","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=23311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78065,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23311\/revisions\/78065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23311"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}