Opinion ID: 2521294
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Majority's Holding Is Doctrinally Irreconcilable With Colorado Precedent

Text: Before turning to the question of remedy, I raise one final point. The judge whose impartiality that the majority assumes to be beyond question is the same person who would have been required to disqualify any prospective juror whose relationship to the case was even more attenuated than his own. In People v. Macrander, 828 P.2d 234 (Colo. 1992), this court held that the mother of a deputy district attorney not involved in the prosecution of the Macrander case must be disqualified from the jury. The jury disqualification statute provided that people of a particular relationship with an attorney of record would be excused for cause. Id. at 239. We construed the phrase attorney of record to refer to every deputy district attorney irrespective of their actual participation in any particular case. Id. at 241. We considered and rejected a contrary construction, stating that such a construction would compromise the appearance if not the reality of fairness in a criminal prosecution and would weaken to a significant degree public trust and confidence in the criminal justice system. Id. at 242. The majority dismisses Macrander in a footnote as irrelevant. It is irreconcilable and unacceptable to posit a rule of law that permits a judge to preside over a case while simultaneously disqualifying a juror from serving on the basis of an appearance of impropriety, when the circumstances demonstrate that the judge has a more direct relationship to the district attorney's office than the juror does.