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Pueblo municipal prosecutor warns state rules and recent case law are overwhelming one-attorney office; city asked to add a prosecutor and paralegal
Summary
City municipal prosecutor Garrett Behrens told the Pueblo City Council that state sentencing changes and a recent court ruling have sharply increased trial and discovery work in municipal court, and the city attorney asked council to authorize hiring one prosecutor and one paralegal (estimated $130,000 and $75,000) or to contract for services.
Carla Sykes introduced a municipal court update at the Pueblo City Council work session on Jan. 26, asking the council to consider adding staff to the city's law department to address statutory and judicial changes that have increased workload in municipal court.
Municipal prosecutor Garrett Behrens told councilors recent state reforms and case law now bind municipal sentencing and require broader discovery, increasing trials and written motions. He said Pueblo ran 19,571 municipal-court violations in 2025 and that the city’s prosecution staffing is strained: "Pueblo has 1 prosecutor per a 111,000 people," Behrens said, a ratio he said far exceeds comparable Colorado cities.
Behrens and Sykes described the changes that triggered the workload…
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