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District attorney asks commissioners to fund conviction‑integrity unit and restore internship funding
Summary
The District Attorney told Arapahoe County commissioners she wants to create a conviction‑integrity review unit (starting with two staff and growing to four) and to restore line items for 2L/3L internship programs and temporary staffing; she urged commissioners to consider supplemental budget action this quarter.
District Attorney Amy Patty (as named in the transcript) asked Arapahoe County commissioners to support two priorities in the 2026 budget: a staffed conviction‑integrity review unit and restored funding for the office's law‑student internship program and temporary staff.
"When we've convicted the wrong person, not only we've done injustice of that person and that person's family, but we've also let the actual perpetrator go free," the district attorney said, describing the mission of a conviction‑integrity unit to review prior convictions, examine sentencing disparities and pursue root‑cause analysis. She recommended starting the unit with at least two full‑time positions — an attorney and a paralegal — with the goal of expanding to a four‑person, fully staffed unit.
The DA emphasized independence for the unit: reviews should be conducted by staff reporting outside of prosecuting teams, she said, and noted federal grants she had hoped to use are no longer available. She also said the office would publish data about cases reviewed and use new DNA and familial‑match technologies to identify cases for reexamination.
On staffing and recruitment, the DA described the office's third‑year (3L) and second‑year (2L) law‑student internship programs. She said 3L interns can appear in court under the Student Practice Act and that interns help the office manage high volumes in county court while serving as a recruitment pipeline.
Commissioners asked for benchmarks and cost detail. Commissioner Jeff Baker asked whether a regional approach might preserve independence by involving multiple jurisdictions; the DA responded that most CIUs review only cases the office prosecuted but welcomed outside input and interagency review for difficult matters. Commissioner Rhonda Fields asked how many wrongful convictions the office expects to find; the DA said the number is unknown and that the office expects sentencing‑disparity cases to be more common than outright exonerations.
Finance staff said the internship and temporary‑staff requests were not carried forward in the transferred budget and that the items will be included in a fourth‑quarter supplemental. A February 3 study session was cited as the forum for Q4 supplemental review. The DA said she did not want to wait another year to launch the work and asked commission support for taking interim steps to begin reviews while formal funding is pursued.
Next steps: the DA will provide supplemental budget materials and benchmarking information from other counties; commissioners will consider the requests during the Q4 supplemental process.
