A Colorado judge on Friday appointed a new district attorney for the 11th Judicial District, replacing disbarred prosecutor Linda Stanley.
Chief Judge Amanda Hunter appointed Jeff Lindsey to the role after Stanley’s disbarment — ordered in September over her misconduct in office — took effect Friday.
Lindsey, a Republican, was running unopposed for district attorney in the 11th Judicial District, which covers Chaffee, Custer, Fremont and Park counties. He would have taken office in January to replace Stanley, but will instead start now, Hunter wrote in a four-page order appointing him into the role.
“Mr. Lindsey made it clear that he was able and willing to assume the role as acting district attorney whenever the court appointed him,” she wrote.
Lindsey previously worked in the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor under Stanley’s supervision before moving in 2021 to the 10th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, where he served as chief deputy district attorney. He has been a lawyer for almost 30 years, nearly all as a prosecutor.
Stanley was disbarred over ethical violations and misconduct that largely happened during the high-profile prosecution of Barry Morphew in the 2020 murder of his wife. Stanley dropped the charges in 2022, and Morphew has maintained his innocence.
Lindsey, the initial lead prosecutor on the Morphew case, testified against Stanley during a two-week disciplinary hearing in June, portraying her as an incompetent and disengaged leader.
State disciplinary authorities ultimately found Stanley made inappropriate comments to the media during the since-dismissed Morphew case, did not adequately supervise the prosecution of the case, caused numerous discovery violations and initiated a baseless, retaliatory investigation into the judge on the case. She also made inappropriate comments to the media in an unrelated case, a disciplinary board found.
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She is the first sitting district attorney to be involuntarily disbarred in Colorado in recent memory. Stanley sought to delay her disbarment after it was ordered, but her efforts were unsuccessful.
Hunter found that she had the authority to appoint Lindsey as Stanley’s replacement — instead of the typical procedure in which the governor makes the appointment — because Stanley’s disbarment meant she was “absent” from the role, rather than that the position was “vacant.”
Under Colorado law, district attorney vacancies must be filled by Gov. Jared Polis, but absences can be filled by the judicial district’s chief judge.
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