House of Payne
Alonzo Payne promised a lot as well, but the results were fleeting
Hello, and welcome back to another segment of this ongoing series on elected Colorado District Attorneys in rural jurisdictions being ethically challenged in the last five years. Last week, it was Linda Stanley who was recently disbarred. Notably she ran as a Republican. This week, it’s Alonzo Payne and notably he ran as a progressive. He was also disbarred as well, in 2022, for a few things, but most notably:
Through this conduct, Payne violated[:]
Colo. RPC 1.1 (a lawyer must competently represent a client);
Colo. RPC 1.3 (a lawyer must act with reasonable diligence and promptness when representing a client);
Colo. RPC 1.7(a)(2) (a lawyer must not represent a client if the representation involves a concurrent conflict of interest);
Colo. RPC 3.3(a)(1) (a lawyer must not knowingly make a false statement of material fact or law to a tribunal);
Colo. RPC 4.1(a) (a lawyer must not, in the course of representing a client, knowingly make a false statement of material law or fact to a third person);
Colo. RPC 5.1(a) (a partner should ensure the partner’s firm implements measures giving reasonable assurance that all lawyers in the firm comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct);
Colo. RPC 8.4(c) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation); and
Colo. RPC 8.4(d) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice).
People v. Payne, 22PDJ033, pg 2 (edited for style).
But let’s back up. How did we get here?
Bringing the Payne
Alonzo Payne ran unopposed in 2020 for the 12th Judicial District Elected District Attorney position. The 12th encompasses six counties: Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache. There is about 44,000 people in total population among those six counties. Costilla is the second poorest county in Colorado. Saguache, Conejos, and Alamosa are all within the top 20 of poorest counties in Colorado in that order. Rio Grande and Mineral are among the most affluent. Given this backdrop, Payne ran on an anti-incarceration ticket which resonated with some of the poorest counties in Colorado.
12th Judicial District (Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache)
Alonzo Christopher Payne (D) is a lawyer who will succeed Robert S. Willett (D). He worked previously for former U.S. Rep. John Salazar and on the attorney general campaign of Ken Salazar. Payne's platform includes reducing the incarceration rate of the San Luis Valley by ending the "criminalization of poverty." He does not support private prisons and favors incarcerating people at state-run facilities instead. Payne warns that crowded jails and "overzealous" prosecutions could lead to civil rights violations.
Now to get there, he did have to win a primary for the shot. Payne ran against Dave Young, who was the former DA who decided not to file charges against the officers in the Elijah McClain case. Young was also married and had some other allegations of an affair with a victim advocate, who killed herself in an apparent suicide not long after the story broke. So, Payne beat someone who was not popular or ethical and was likely seen by constituents as protecting law enforcement from consequences. So Payne was a shoe in for this election.
The problem was, how do you keep with the anti-incarceration movement when, in your job, you have to incarcerate some people? Thus is the problem with progressive prosecutors. In Payne’s case, his office donned the ill-fitting mantra of blaming the victims of crime rather than improving the system.
When I walked into the office of the 21st DA to begin work, I became incredibly well-informed on victim rights and my role within it. However, before this, I had no idea that victims of crime were even that big of a part of the prosecutor’s job. If you are on the other side as a defense attorney, you usually fall into the lazy trap of victim-blaming. It’s lazy because as a defense attorney, there are better and more ethical ways to win a case. This is my opinion, but most defense attorneys are taught from the beginning to throw victims under the bus and blame blame blame.
I also will be honest, I lost my cool on a victim or two once. So I understand where Payne and others who blame victims are coming from. I’m not saying it’s right, but I do understand. As a prosecutor, you want justice. As a line prosecutor, you want justice but you also want to do your job effectively so you’re not fired. Under the Victim’s Rights Act (VRA) you must consult with the victim before any plea, and the victim has the right to be present at any court hearing. Most victims are uncooperative, and with the bad press law enforcement has had, who can blame them? All that being said, procedurally, some prosecutors view victims more as stumbling blocks to clearing cases and backlog, when victims are really the cornerstone of the prosecutorial practice.
While in office, Payne failed to diligently supervise his employees, including an assistant district attorney who Payne later fired because of complaints about the lawyer’s conduct when performing his job duties. In mid-2021, a Victim Rights Act (“VRA”) subcommittee began investigating Payne’s office, citing concerns that the office failed to keep victims informed about their cases and failed to consult with victims about plea deals and dismissals. The investigation also identified instances in which employees from Payne’s office ignored, belittled, and shouted at victims. The VRA subcommittee recommended that Payne’s office take actions that included VRA training. During the training, Payne’s employees were unruly, directing foul language at the presenters and walking out of the training. Payne’s office did not resolve the VRA complaints, which were ultimately referred to the governor, who appointed the office of the attorney general to investigate. In July 2022, the attorney general appointed a monitor to review if Payne’s office was meeting its responsibilities under the VRA.
People v. Payne, 22PDJ033, pg 1 (edited for style).
Payne also dismissed a case that was years old on the first day of jury trial while lying to the court about his reasons. The two victims showed up at court, just to be told it was dismissed without any heads up. This isn’t just not complying with VRA, but a personal ambivalence about respecting others’ time and nightmare criminal justice experiences. Think about the message this sends the public about a DA’s role in justice - they simply do not care. As I am married to a victim of crime, this lack of care is something all too prevalent in the criminal justice system that we have witnessed again and again. Crime victims are hurt over and over from not only offenders, but from the same system charged to protect them and bring justice.
So Payne’s cardinal sin was his inability to successfully manage an office which got him into trouble, then trying to cover these shortcomings up by lying and denigrating victims of crime. Whether his actual intent was to throw victims of crime under the bus or whether he started something that manifested into this, it became a dark day for those who voted for him in the primary under promises to alleviate his home-turf from the bondage of the CJS. See the video below for more information.
What lesson?
Now there are some other differences between Alonzo and Linda, from the previous part of this special report. Payne accepted disbarment, and had no hearing. Payne simply accepted his punishment, instead of stringing out a hearing that ultimately would inevitably cost him his license like Linda. Alonzo also was not a career prosecutor and practiced from 2006 onward, mostly working on political campaigns for other attorneys e.g. Ken Salazar.
“I have more experience as a lawyer and more compassion than the appointed bureaucrat who simply wants to brag to his front range friends about all the poor people he has incarcerated in the SLV,” said Payne in a recent interview with Valley Publishing.
So Payne, comparatively, had no prior experience and fashioned himself as someone who was compassionate. Payne was also a native of the San Luis Valley, which is where the 12th judicial is. So he grew up and understood the features of the SLV and yet, he left them hanging.
The feature that unites both Linda and Payne is political. Both jurisdictions were some of the poorest in Colorado, and desperately were looking for someone to reign in crime and have justice done. Both candidates used this to be elected, without much check over their qualifications. Linda was scared to do high profile felony trials and Payne never did any trials, given his prior experience. Both of these people were ill-equipped to be the elected DA of either jurisdiction, and likely cost these jurisdictions a lot of money…which they don’t have. You can’t blame voters! This is how politics works.
The other feature that unites both of these disbarred elected DAs is incredible mismanagement of their offices. Both are small and rural, covering multiple counties. Both also lorded over some of the poorest and most remote parts of Colorado. It seems like when there was a chance to take responsibility and do the right thing, both failed. This isn’t all of a failing morally but more of a failing in leadership.
So what lessons are we left with? Two recent candidates, both in rural jobs as elected DA and both are disbarred during their terms. Both candidates won their way to their seats by lauding their experience as lawyers and with the law. Both ended up hurting and costing their respective districts thousands of dollars because of their mismanagement and lack of leadership. Are these exceptions to the rule? Possibly, but it also speaks to the power of voting.
Universal suffrage is something needed for a nation to be considered “free” on this geopolitical landscape. It is, what all of the Neo-liberal lords and masters1 promote. I don’t think there is anything wrong with voting personally. But I do believe the system is broken when we leave the arbiter of justice up to who says the nicest words in order to be elected. In Colorado the only ones who have paid for it are the actual voters.
Make justice non-political. The population’s faith in the American CJS depends upon it.
Thanks for reading!
-HJRC
The UN, IMF, World Bank, etc