{"id":24782,"date":"2024-11-18T12:53:57","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T19:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ian-maclaren-sworn-into-montezuma-county-court\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:01:26","slug":"ian-maclaren-sworn-into-montezuma-county-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ian-maclaren-sworn-into-montezuma-county-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian MacLaren sworn into Montezuma County Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Judge
Judge Todd Plewe swears in Ian MacLaren, the newest addition to the Montezuma County Court in the 22nd Judicial District. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The benches in Courtroom 2 at the Montezuma County Combined Courts quickly filled the morning of Nov. 18 as people crowded in to watch Ian MacLaren, the newest addition to the court, be formally sworn in.<\/p>\n

Judge Todd Jay Plewe of the 22nd Judicial District led MacLaren through the oath of office, and started off with a warm welcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my honor to swear in Ian MacLaren,\u201d said Plewe. \u201cI\u2019m excited to serve with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

After MacLaren took the oath with a raised right hand, his mother delivered his long black gown in an act of what Plewe called \u201ctradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ian
Ian MacLaren putting on his gown with the help of his mother after getting sworn into Montezuma County Court. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Once MacLaren zipped the gown with minor difficulties, he gave a speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you all for being here. I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d be here without each and every one of you,\u201d said MacLaren as he looked out at the crowded room of friends, family and former coworkers.<\/p>\n

He grew up in Montezuma County, and said how he loved the area and its people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to serve and do right by the people in this community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

MacLaren intends to be all the things a judge ought to be: unbiased, fair. It\u2019s paramount, though, to not put people into boxes, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to do. Every time I\u2019m on the bench, I strive not to do this,\u201d he said. \u201cI also strive to not box myself in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Gov. Jared Polis appointed him to the Montezuma County Court in the 22nd Judicial District on Oct. 16, MacLaren worked for the county for nearly nine years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a great ride,\u201d MacLaren said at his last Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners meeting on Nov. 12.<\/p>\n

Since 2021, he\u2019s been the Montezuma County attorney, and before that, he was the assistant county attorney for five and a half years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a fun couple of years,\u201d said Montezuma County Commissioner Jim Candelaria. \u201cI like seeing bright young men moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Work as a private practitioner at Ian MacLaren Attorney at Law overlapped with his county responsibilities from 2016 to 2021.<\/p>\n

In 2023, he landed his first job as a judge in Dove Creek as municipal court judge. Not long after, in May this year, Polis appointed him to the Dolores County Court in the 22nd Judicial District.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in our Constitution \u2013 I know it sounds clich\u00e9 \u2013 and the legal system it has created,\u201d MacLaren said.<\/p>\n

Although that \u201csystem\u201d isn\u2019t perfect, he said.<\/p>\n

He said the moment he knew he wanted to be a judge was when he was a young attorney representing someone afflicted with alcoholism and learning disabilities.<\/p>\n

What that person needed was sober living and treatment, but he never got it and ultimately died.<\/p>\n

He said it\u2019s something he\u2019ll never forget, and though he can\u2019t fix the system, he\u2019ll uphold mandates and do his best.<\/p>\n

MacLaren filled the vacancy Judge JenniLynn Lawrence left when she was appointed to the 21st Judicial District in Mesa County earlier this year. Assistant County Attorney Stephen Tarnowski will take MacLaren\u2019s place as Montezuma County Attorney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a trial at 1:30 p.m. today\u201d MacLaren said with a laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the vacancy Judge JenniLynn Lawrence left<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,60,29,76],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","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\/24782","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=24782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78672,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24782\/revisions\/78672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24782"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}