People v. District Court

This is an original proceeding in which the People seek to disqualify the respondent judge in two companion criminal cases pending in the district court of Las Animas County. We issued a rule to show cause, and having concluded that the respondent judge should be disqualified, we now make that rule absolute.

Following a series of newspaper articles in the nature of an “expose,” a special state grand jury was convened to investigate alleged governmental corruption in Las Animas County and the City of Trinidad. The special assistant attorney general handling this case was and is the special…