A judge from northeastern Colorado used his position to aid a friend across multiple cases, and ordered the pretrial release of her boyfriend who was accused of felonies, disciplinary officials alleged in a filing on Tuesday.
District Court Judge Justin B. Haenlein, who presides in the 13th Judicial District of Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties, has been off the bench since the Colorado Supreme Court suspended him in November pending the disciplinary investigation. Last week, an adjudicative panel convened and, for the first time in state history, livestreamed the proceedings in Haenlein’s disciplinary case.
The three-member panel focused on the impact of Amendment H, which voters overwhelmingly approved in November to bring greater transparency to the discipline process and greater independence for those adjudicating formal proceedings. Although Haenlein and the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline announced they reached an agreed-upon narrative of the facts and an agreed-upon consequence — Haenlein’s resignation — the panel ordered the commission to file a document containing the original allegations…