Colorado Retired Judge Reflects on Law, Domestic Violence, and Family in New Memoir
Why It Matters
A retired Colorado judge has released a memoir offering a rare look inside the state’s courtroom culture, the personal costs of judicial service, and the intersection of law and domestic violence cases. The book sheds light on how Colorado courts handled protection orders and violence against women during a pivotal era in American legal history.
For Colorado residents following ongoing debates about judicial conduct and the integrity of the state’s court system, the account offers a firsthand perspective on the pressures judges face — including challenges to their impartiality — when they engage publicly on matters of law and justice.
What Happened
The memoir, titled “Your Verdict: A Judge’s Reckoning with Law and Loss,” chronicles the career of a retired Colorado judge who presided over domestic violence and protection order cases in Denver. The book draws on decades of experience on the bench and includes candid reflections on the personal and professional challenges of judging in a system the author viewed as imperfect.
One episode recounted in the book centers on a 1992 keynote address the judge delivered at the Margo Ginger Green Lecture Series at the University of Colorado — a lecture series named for a student killed by her estranged husband on a downtown Denver street. The author describes wrestling with ethical rules governing judicial speech before agreeing to participate, ultimately determining that the Code of Judicial Conduct permits judges to engage in community activities aimed at improving the justice system.
The speech drew immediate legal pushback. Within a week of a news clipping appearing in the Rocky Mountain News, a defense attorney in a protection order case brandished the article in court, arguing the judge was biased against men and should disqualify herself. The case involved Clarence Kay, identified in the book as a star tight end for the Denver Broncos, against whom the judge had issued a temporary restraining order at the request of his girlfriend.
The defense attorney sought a delay to interview witnesses who attended the university speech. The judge granted a brief continuance. The memoir describes the courtroom dynamics in detail, including the competing attorneys, the procedural maneuvering, and the author’s internal deliberations about the limits of judicial speech.
By the Numbers
- 1992: Year the author delivered the keynote address during Denver’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month
- 23: Colorado libraries whose combined catalogs carry the book through the Prospector system
- 1 week: Time between the news clipping’s publication and its appearance in the Protection Order courtroom as evidence of alleged bias
- 9 mm: The caliber weapon used by Margo Green’s estranged husband, who killed her on a downtown Denver street before turning the gun on himself — the tragedy that prompted the lecture series
Zoom Out
The memoir arrives as Colorado’s judiciary faces heightened public scrutiny. The Colorado Court of Appeals recently upheld the conviction of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, underscoring the continuing tension between public officials and judicial accountability in the state. Meanwhile, courts across the country continue to grapple with questions of judicial impartiality and the boundaries of appropriate speech for sitting and retired judges.
Nationally, domestic violence case law has evolved significantly since the early 1990s, with protection order processes becoming more standardized across states. The memoir provides a ground-level account of how those processes worked — and sometimes failed — during a formative period. Colorado has also seen contentious legislative and judicial battles over social policy that illustrate how courts remain a battleground for broader cultural disputes.
The book is part of the Colorado Sun’s SunLit series, which features excerpts from Colorado authors alongside author interviews, and is available through independent bookstores, the Libby e-book platform, and the Prospector library catalog system.
What’s Next
The memoir is currently available to Colorado readers through multiple channels, including the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries and independent booksellers statewide. The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book are featuring the book as part of their ongoing SunLit series, with an author interview available alongside the published excerpt.
An accompanying episode of The Daily Sun-Up podcast offers additional depth on the book’s themes, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and RSS. No public appearances or speaking engagements by the author have been announced at this time.