Lawmakers deal with Ritter, DAs to reform system that charges youth as adults

Draft legislation that would limit the power of Colorado district attorneys to charge 14- and 15-year-olds as adults was watered down this week by sponsor Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, who said that, although the bill enjoys the support of a majority of lawmakers, former D.A. now-Governor Bill Ritter, a strong proponent of D.A. discretion in these matters, said he would veto the original version of the bill.

Troy Eid to resign, run for Colorado attorney general

If all goes the way that the Denver Post laid out in very matter-of-fact terms today, Attorney General John Suthers is either planning to seek the nomination for governor or U.S. senator from Colorado in 2010. Meanwhile Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid will step down from the bench if her husband, Troy Eid, is elected Colorado’s next attorney general.

Quick, Shepherd out as possible U.S. attorneys

Adams County District Attorney Don Quick, reportedly at the top of the list to become Colorado’s next U.S. Attorney, has apparently taken himself out of the running, as has Denver attorney Willie Shepherd, who is active in Democratic Party politics as well as numerous civic and philanthropic boards.

DA Don Quick tops some lists for Colorado’s next U.S. attorney

Ask Jeff Dorschner to identify the highest profile cases prosecuted by the the U.S. Attorney in Colorado over the past decade and the spokesman doesn’t miss a beat: Former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, convicted of insider trading; Terry Barton, the U.S. Forest Service worker who started the largest wildfire in Colorado history; and the three Roman Catholic nuns, convicted of malicious destruction of property for spreading their own blood on a nuclear missile silo in Weld County.

But ask Dorschner who will be his new boss, and he comes up empty-handed.