Colorado’s Supreme Court turned down a request from 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley to postpone her disbarment Friday, rejecting arguments that immediately stopping her from practicing law would burden her financially and disrupt the work of her office.
Presiding disciplinary judge Bryon Large wrote in his order denying Stanley’s request that he was unswayed by claims that disbarring Stanley before a ruling on her appeal or before her term as DA expires in January would damage the public’s confidence in the legal system or interfere with the work of prosecutors.
“Lawyers serving as publicly elected officials are not subject to special, more lenient, standards,” Large wrote. “In short, we refuse to be complicit in (Stanley’s) attempt to use her office as a shield after having found she has abused the power that flows from it.”
A Colorado disciplinary board took the rare step of disbarring Stanley in September, finding that she engaged in misconduct during and after the prosecution of Barry Morphew, who was charged in 2021 with the murder of his wife, Suzanne.
Stanley dropped the charges in 2022 after a judge sanctioned prosecutors for violating the rules of discovery. Barry Morphew has maintained his innocence throughout the legal process and is not currently facing charges in connection with his wife’s death.
The board found Stanley made inappropriate comments to the media about the case, failed to adequately supervise prosecutors, caused discovery violations and launched a retaliatory investigation into the presiding judge.
Large ordered that Stanley’s disbarment take effect no sooner than Nov. 1.
Steven Jensen, an attorney representing Stanley, wrote in an email that they were “disappointed, but not surprised” by the ruling and remain optimistic about Stanley’s pending appeal of her disbarment.
“The notice of appeal details ten meritorious grounds to challenge the underlying decision,” Jensen said. “We strongly disagree with the sanction of disbarment and are hopeful that the Supreme Court will overturn that disputed recommendation.”
