AURORA | A proposal to hand all misdemeanor domestic violence cases off to county courts earned a mixed reception at its first Aurora City Council hearing Monday, as some city lawmakers questioned the impact that the shift could have on crime victims.
The item sponsored by Dustin Zvonek and supported by Danielle Jurinsky — both influential conservatives who have authored much of the majority’s public safety policy — was endorsed by a council policy committee last month.
However, on Monday, other conservatives and council members questioned the decision to move the prosecutions out of the Aurora Municipal Court over objections from overlapping counties that they don’t have the resources needed to pick up Aurora’s caseload.
Arapahoe County in particular has warned that, without additional funding, such a change could result in justice for victims being delayed. According to an estimate by the county, close to 1,600 cases would be moved into its jurisdiction annually as a result of the change, costing upward of $2.45 million.
“When we send these hundreds of cases to the counties, they’re not going to get the attention they deserve,” Councilmember Curtis Gardner said. “I don’t understand why, something this drastic, why we have to rush into it.”
Aurora is one of just a handful of Colorado cities that handle domestic violence cases in their municipal courts rather than forward them to county courts. The City Council decided to move those prosecutions in-house in the 1980s, citing concerns about other jurisdictions not making them a priority.
Pete Schulte of the Aurora City Attorney’s Office said in response to a question from Councilmember Alison Coombs that handing cases off to the counties would likely result in some cases not being prosecuted “as vigorously.”
Zvonek has argued that, by volunteering to prosecute domestic violence, Aurora is “subsidizing” counties and unnecessarily taking on a cost that other cities avoid. He pointed out June 10 that district attorneys are already expected to handle more complex and serious cases of domestic violence that arise in the city.
“It wouldn’t be a new process for them,” he said. “We clearly put a lot of trust in our judicial districts to prosecute domestic violence cases and ones where they reach a felony level. I have enough confidence in our DAs offices that they will prosecute those on behalf of the victims.”
The proposal also comes after Colorado’s General Assembly passed and Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill that would prohibit cities that prosecute domestic violence from providing public defender services on the basis of flat-fee contracts.
Zvonek previously argued that the city should move away from handling domestic violence in case it ultimately decides to privatize the work of the Aurora Public Defender Office. The city received no response earlier this year when it asked private law firms to bid on replacing the office.
The version of the proposal that Zvonek brought Monday did not specify when it would go into effect. City staffers told council members that outstanding warrants and pending cases could mean the city continuing to move cases through its court for at least a few years after the effective date.
Councilmember Angela Lawson also said she was concerned about the impact Zvonek’s proposal could have on victims of violence, bringing up how prosecuting cases locally spares victims and witnesses trips to county courthouses in Brighton and Centennial for hearings and to obtain protection orders.
“That can mean life or death for a victim,” Lawson said.
Zvonek said he believed the distance victims must travel to attend district court hearings currently was a failure of those jurisdictions rather than the city.
He ultimately agreed to postpone the proposal to a future meeting, saying he agreed the transition process will need to be thought through if the council decided to move forward.
“It would impact a lot of people in our community,” Zvonek said. “There would be a transition phase. I would obviously be willing and open to feedback on that transition date to make this move effective for us and be respectful of the counties who would have to absorb a large caseload.”
AURORA CITY COUNCIL: incompetent period
every idea they come up with (without thinking it through) get’s shelved due to their inability to do anything other then whine and point fingers. Don’t make me list all the things they haven’t done right.
They hold the defendants in jail. In the counties the courts are a joke
Are you saying that at the municipal level, the offender is jailed while they await trial and that at the county level, the offender is not held?