The public censure issued this week against District Attorney Carol Chambers could have a negative effect on her should she be found guilty of future misconduct, even though in itself, the censure is minor.
“They’ll give you a free pass the first time, but if you do it the second time, they’re not going to look the other way,” said John Lebsack, ethics chairman for the Colorado Bar Association.
Chambers was censured for using her office to help Englewood City Councilwoman Laurett Barrentine. A collection agency lawyer was seeking a judgment against Barrentine for bad checks that were written on a closed account. Authorities later found that Barrentine had been a victim of identity theft.
Chambers also was accused of making misleading statements and being dishonest. She was cleared of those counts.
Part of the reason she received the light penalty was because she did not have a previous violation, according to the three- member disciplinary panel.
Chambers faced a penalty ranging from disbarment to private admonishment (similar to a letter placed in her file). She also could have been suspended.
Instead, a public censure will be published in the Colorado Supreme Court official case report, as well as in the local trade magazine of the Colorado Bar Association, The Colorado Lawyer, Lebsack said.
“Sometimes, it’s an embarrassing situation, the fact that a lawyer’s conduct is exposed in front of their peers,” Lebsack said. “Sometimes, the lawyer is not particularly ashamed of what he or she did.”
Chambers, the district attorney for Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties, said Wednesday that while the intent of the punishment may have been to embarrass her, it won’t stop her from doing what she thinks is right.
“I have the benefit of having a temperament that is not easily embarrassed,” Chambers said. Public censure “was concerning to me, but I know I was advocating for a victim. I knew what I was seeing looked like a crime. Whether embarrassing or not, it’s my job to do that.”
Stu VanMeveren, a former district attorney in Fort Collins, said prosecutors have to be aware at all times of what they say regarding criminal prosecution.
He said he was “not saying what she did was right or wrong, but with the power the DA has, you have to be very careful in what you say because it could be misconstrued.”
Lebsack said he could not recall a sitting district attorney receiving public censure for a code violation in Colorado, although La Plata County District Attorney Victor Reichman was censured in 1989 for his role in a scheme to trick an attorney into providing information about some of his clients.
John Gleason, head of the office of attorney regulation, said his office may appeal the decision to the Colorado Supreme Court. Chambers also said she may appeal.
Gleason disputed Chambers’ claim that the decision would stop some DAs from going after people who take advantage of victims of identity theft.
“It has nothing to do with infringing on the district attorneys doing their jobs,” he said. “It has everything to do with her individual conduct.”
Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
