People v. District Court, City & County of Denver

The People of the State of Colorado brought this original proceeding under C.A.R. 21, seeking relief in the nature of prohibition or mandamus from an order of the Denver District Court requiring payment of $19,131 to the defendant’s attorneys in a criminal proceeding as a sanction for violation of discovery rules. The sum represented that part of the defendant’s attorney’s fees characterized by the court as “unnecessary fees generated by the discovery failure.” The order provided in the alternative that if the payment were not made by a specified time the case would be dismissed. We issued a…