(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A District Attorney who represents multiple counties in Southern Colorado, and who presided over the prosecution of Barry Morphew, has been disbarred.
Earlier this week, a hearing board ordered the disbarment of Linda Stanley, the 11th Judicial District Attorney, who oversaw the prosecution and eventual dismissal of charges against Morphew. This means Stanley will no longer be able to practice law in the state of Colorado.
Stanley is now out of a job. The Colorado Disciplinary Board found that she violated professional rules for attorneys, specifically during the high-profile prosecution of Morphew.
“She was making statements to the media that she should not have been making, that was one of the issues. Another issue was discovery violation, so she was not turning over to the defense the materials that she was supposed to turn over,” said Chris Phillips of McDivitt Law Firm.
Charges again Morphew were later dropped because of a lack of evidence, but the Morphew case wasn’t the only problem. Several others were also mentioned in the 83-page opinion.
“One of the most alarming violations actually was that she was accusing a sitting judge of criminal misconduct without any backing to support that,” added Phillips.
Stanley has seven days to appeal before the disbarment takes effect, and if she doesn’t or is unsuccessful, she will no longer be allowed to practice law in Colorado for eight years. She will also have to step down from her position as District Attorney.
“Your job as a prosecutor is to be beholden to the people of the community. You want to make sure you’re doing right by them and not allowing people that are going to take advantage of them or do harm to them to have access to them,” said Phillips.
When these accusations were first made, Stanley told FOX21 News that the allegations were not true, stating, “I stand up for people all the time, every day. So, me not being able to stand up for myself was difficult.”
McDivitt Law Firm tells FOX21 that an interim DA will be appointed in the meantime, and then an election will be held to permanently fill the position. FOX21 reached out to Stanley for comment and is waiting to hear back.
