BOULDER, Colo.—A judge says she will not recuse herself from the case involving a Boulder County man awaiting sentencing on a child abuse conviction in the death of his infant son.
Boulder County District Judge Lael Montgomery ruled Monday that Alex Midyette, 29, has not proven she was biased against him. The judge is scheduled to sentence Midyette in a week for his role in the 2006 death of his 11-week-old son, Jason.
Midyette is jailed on $20 million bond on accusations that he violated his bond conditions by having contact with children. He posted an earlier $1.5 million bond after a Denver jury convicted him in February of criminally negligent child abuse resulting in death.
On March 30, Midyette’s attorneys filed a motion seeking a new judge, saying the “excessive” bond amounts in the case showed that Montgomery had lost her “sense of fairness and balance” toward Midyette. They also argued that Montgomery met with prosecutors about the alleged bond violation without notifying them.
In her ruling Monday, Montgomery said Midyette’s attorneys provided her with no law “that requires a judge to notify a defendant that the judge is about to sign a warrant for that defendant’s arrest.”
She added that signing the arrest warrant was part of her judicial duties, not a sign of prejudice.
Montgomery also wrote that Midyette has no legal right to any bond in a case in which he has been found guilty and is awaiting sentencing, so the complaint that she set his bond too high wasn’t valid.
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Information from: Daily Camera,
