The day after a collection-agency lawyer said he was threatened by District Attorney Carol Chambers, she asked her staff to investigate whether the lawyer coerced one of her acquaintances, according to testimony Tuesday in the DA’s disciplinary hearing.
Mike Knight, chief investigator for the 18th Judicial District, testified that Chambers requested the investigation specifically into collection- agency lawyer Jonathan Steiner, who was working for Central Credit Corp.
That distinction is key in the state’s case because Chambers has maintained that she was not targeting the lawyer but the collection industry in general.
There was no mention of tactics used by collection agencies in an investigative request form that is part of the evidence in the case. On Tuesday, Knight at first testified that he was the one who initiated the investigation, but he later acknowledged that it was Chambers.
The e-mail from Chambers to Knight came on Jan. 24, a day after Chambers left a voice message for Steiner, who was trying to collect on bad checks written on a closed account by Englewood City Councilwoman Laurett Barrentine. She was later found to be a victim of identity theft and had not written the bogus checks.
The message to Steiner said in part that Chambers had received a lot of complaints from identity- theft victims that Steiner was pressuring them to pay on checks they hadn’t written. Chambers later acknowledged that she had received only one complaint about Steiner from Barrentine, whom she knew from several Republican events in Arapahoe County.
In the voice message left for Steiner, Chambers then said that she might have a grand jury look into the matter.
Chambers is accused of using her office to intimidate, making misleading statements and engaging in conduct involving dishonesty. She could face discipline ranging from a reprimand to disbarment if a judge refers the case to the Colorado Supreme Court.
During testimony Tuesday, Barrentine said Steiner repeatedly harassed and threatened her as he tried to collect on two bad checks.
“You know you’re guilty, why don’t you pay this,” Barrentine said Steiner told her.
Steiner also told her, Barrentine said, that he would “squash” her in court because she was planning on representing herself.
The defense Tuesday also called former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Dubofsky as an expert witness to testify about whether Chambers’ voice-mail to Steiner was threatening. When the state protested, the judge agreed and prevented Dubofsky’s testimony on that issue.
Chambers’ husband, attorney Nathan Chambers, who was asked by his wife to give Barrentine guidance in the case, was the final witness in the hearing.
Nathan Chambers said Tuesday that he called Steiner a couple of days before the scheduled trial and said he heard none of the fear Steiner testified he had following Chambers’ voice mail and still has today.
“He mentioned he got a call (from Carol Chambers) and tried to call her back, but he didn’t seem to be cowering in fear,” Nathan Chambers said.
Both sides are expected to make closing statements today. A hearing board of three judges, led by Presiding Disciplinary Judge William Lucero, will then have 60 days to issue its opinion, but Lucero said that he would like to expedite that process.
Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
