{"id":35666,"date":"2023-02-20T13:21:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T20:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/polis-forms-panel-to-choose-finalists-for-new-district-attorney-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:26:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:26:23","slug":"polis-forms-panel-to-choose-finalists-for-new-district-attorney-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/polis-forms-panel-to-choose-finalists-for-new-district-attorney-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Polis forms panel to choose finalists for new district attorney in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Colorado
Colorado Governor Jared Polis unveils signs for Memorial Rock, a house-sized boulder that fell on CO. 145 May 24.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Gov. Jared Polis has appointed Colorado Attorney General Phillip Weiser to serve as the state prosecutor for the 22nd District Attorney\u2019s office until a new district attorney is appointed.<\/p>\n

However, it is likely a staff attorney from the AG office will fill the role, said current DA Matt Margeson.<\/p>\n

He has not been informed who it will be yet, but \u201cI\u2019d be very surprised\u201d if Weiser is the one to fill the interim appointment. \u201cI\u2019m sure it will be a skilled and competent attorney from their office.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interim prosecutor will begin serving Feb. 27, according to a Polis news release.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Margeson was appointed by Polis to serve as the Dolores County Court judge.<\/p>\n

\"District
District Attorney Matt Margeson makes closing statements in the Ronald Morosko hunting trial in Cortez. Margeson has been appointed to serve as Dolores County judge. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

On Saturday, Polis announced a panel to review applications and recommend finalists to him for the appointment of the new district attorney for the 22nd Judicial District. The district includes Montezuma and Dolores Counties.<\/p>\n

Panel members include:<\/p>\n

Gov. Bill Ritter, former DA for the 2nd Judicial District (Denver).<\/div>\n
Christian Champagne, district attorney for the 6th Judicial District (La Plata, Archuleta, and San Juan counties).<\/div>\n
Stan Garnett, former district attorney for the 20th Judicial District (Boulder).<\/div>\n
Dan Rubenstein, district attorney for the 21st Judicial District (Mesa County).<\/div>\n
Kara Veitch, chief legal counsel to Polis.<\/div>\n

The application process will remain open until qualified candidates are found. Interviews will begin the week of Feb. 27. Those interested should submit resumes and cover letters to: gov_officeoflegalcounsel@state.co.us<\/a>. The salary for the district attorney position is $135,000\/year.<\/p>\n

The individual appointed will serve through the current term. The next election for the district attorney in the 22nd Judicial District will be the general election in November 2024.<\/p>\n

The 22nd Judicial District Attorney\u2019s office had 19 employees, including four attorneys \u2013 Margeson and Deputy District Attorneys Jeremy Reed, Mark Franklin, and Verily Jones.<\/p>\n

As DA, Margeson handles a full docket, with a focus on felony cases and juvenile cases. In a given year, he acquires about 200 felony cases and 50 juvenile cases.<\/p>\n

Margeson said he will meet with the AG office this week about the interim prosecutor appointment.<\/p>\n

The position is very temporary, and the permanent DA is expected to be appointed by Polis quickly, Margeson said.<\/p>\n

The Journal<\/em> reached out to Phil Wieser\u2019s office for additional information but had not heard back as of publication.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interim prosecutor will fill in pending governor\u2019s appointment; DA Margeson leaving to serve as Dolores County judge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35667,"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-35666","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\/35666","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=35666"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83063,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35666\/revisions\/83063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35666"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}