EDITORIAL: Aurora, county and state must work together, now, to solve domestic violence court quagmire

The answer to Aurora’s self-inflicted domestic violence quagmire is an easy one, just unpopular with state, county and local government officials.

Arapahoe County officials told city lawmakers last week that the county cannot successfully take over Aurora’s domestic violence caseload, unwisely dumped by some council conservatives during a needless political tantrum.

At risk are the precarious lives of thousands of domestic-violence victims in Aurora, who have for decades depended on a sensitive and highly-trained court system to extricate them from their dangerous and tragic lives, and to help protect those who return to their abusers in one way or another.

Former Councilmember Dustin Zvonek and current Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky spearheaded the ill-conceived plan in 2024 to end the ability of Aurora’s municipal court and police to adjudicate domestic violence cases. The reason, they said, is that a recent change in state law would require the city to do what it already does: require city courts to provide quality public defense for crimes that can net jail time.

The special court is so successful, recognized and important, because it appreciates how domestic violence is so very different than almost any other crime. Often the victim has a change of heart in pursuing prosecution of their abusers, out of fear, false-pragmatism or bad judgment.

Aurora domestic-violence treatment experts say one of the biggest dangers to victims is the long wait and false starts before a victim will finally move to extricate themselves from abusers. Tragically, it is too often a worst-case scenario that finally prompts a victim to leave.

Aurora’s specialized court, and a tight relationship with Gateway Domestic Violence Services, now Three Birds, leveraged their ability to help victims navigate the legal aspects of domestic violence while working to manage the psychological, economic and pragmatic aspects of the issue.

Part of this extremely complicated problem is the inevitable continuing relationship with the perpetrator. Inexperienced, ham-handed adjudication can easily “re-victimize” the victim by not understanding simple things, such as, a jailed DV suspect doesn’t go to work, often creating a financial crisis that rolls downhill to the DV victim.

At the same time, constitutional rights to defense by a qualified attorney are the very foundation of the American legal system. Even given the emotional complexity of domestic violence cases, it’s critical that DV suspects receive what they are guaranteed as they become part of this court process.

That’s where Zvonek’s misguided legislation came in. Quality justice and court systems aren’t cheap. City officials estimate that Aurora taxpayers were on the hook for about $2.5 million a year for the DV court system, much of which pays for public defenders and probation services.

Zvonek and Jurinsky fought, and won, the battle to close the domestic violence court system and send the approximately 1,600 misdemeanor DV cases a year to either Arapahoe or Adams county courts.

During this political melodrama, state legislators prohibited cities like Aurora from hiring contract public defenders. It was the response to a failed attempt by Aurora to cheap out the expense of real public defense.

With a July deadline headed this way, Arapahoe County officials said last week that a request to the state for up to $8 million they say is needed to accommodate the huge push of DV cases from Aurora was turned down. Colorado is already trying to cut $1.2 billion from the state budget because of a shortfall.

County officials said, at this point, that if Aurora makes good on its threat to push about 1,300 DV cases to Arapahoe County, the chance of at least some of the cases being wrongly dismissed or mishandled by an overwhelmed system is certain.

While Aurora has every reason to push back against local taxpayers having to pony up for a DV court system that, really, no other city’s taxpayers has to do the same, the cruelty this decision imposes on some of the most vulnerable people in the community is beyond the pale.

The decision is akin to callously judging these victims for “having brought it on themselves,” by making bad relationship choices in a city that has better things to spend money on.

There’s no overlooking the irony of Aurora’s “get tough on crime” council representatives who are driving up the cost of the city’s courts system with enhanced “must jail” offenses for shoplifting and walking out on a $15 restaurant tab. More than one of these proponents have said that they serve on the city council to work for “victims” and not “perpetrators.”

Clearly, some victims in Aurora are more equal than others. 

If this cruel crisis is about money, Aurora can shut down almost all of its court system at a huge savings to local taxpayers and send virtually all of its misdemeanor cases to county courts. Aurora courts cost taxpayers upwards of $15 million a year.

For the state, however, it’s all about the money.

The state can either look toward paying Arapahoe County about $3 million-$3.5 million a year for what Aurora can do for only $2.5 million.

Even those with poor judgment about critical problems such as managing domestic violence and ensuring qualified legal defense can see that Colorado saves money to provide the  legal and court services it is required to do through counties, and it can save state taxpayers about a million dollars a year.

Given the late place in the state, city and county budget cycle, it may be impossible to find money from the state by July, but smarter elected officials from Aurora, Arapahoe and Adams counties, state lawmakers and Gov. Jared Polis’ budget office surely can find a way, together, to help fund Aurora’s program for another year until a permanent solution is reached.

The answer isn’t nearly as complicated as is the problem this critical system has successfully addressed for decades.