Springs' Christmas wish list features federal courthouse

By Dennis Huspeni , The Gazette

Published December 26, 2007 at 12:30 a.m.

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The FBI has been asking for one for at least seven years.

The past two U.S. attorneys in Denver have lobbied for one.

Colorado Springs is just about the most populous city in the United States without one - a federal courthouse.

The FBI released a study in 2000 outlining the need for federal district judges, magistrates and U.S. attorneys to be permanently assigned to Colorado Springs, saying its work would otherwise be hampered.

And while Denver got the new, $99 million Alfred A. Arraj U.S. Courthouse in 2002, residents of the most populous county in the state - El Paso - have to drive more than 60 miles north to work with a U.S. attorney in Denver, as do federal agents working cases here.

"It's long, long overdue in Colorado Springs," said Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, former U.S. attorney and former 4th Judicial District attorney. "There's a big federal presence in Colorado Springs."

Deputy District Attorney Robin Chittum, who used to work drug cases with local DEA agents, said, "Whenever we have to correspond or work testimony with the U.S. attorney or have a court hearing, taxpayers pay them to drive up to Denver. That's at least a day wasted every time. These are our crimes. They should be prosecuted down here."

A group of local attorneys and state district judges are spearheading an effort to remedy that.Colorado Springs does have a small courtroom, at 212 N. Wahsatch Ave., that a U.S. magistrate from Denver travels to once a week.

But that's not enough when more than 40 percent of the U.S. District cases in Colorado come from south of the El Paso-Douglas county line, said Kent Karber, an attorney for Holland and Hart who is helping lead the local push.

It won't be as simple as lobbying Colorado's representatives or senators in Washington, D.C.

Suthers said he's made a run at trying to get a federal courthouse here, but his efforts fell on deaf ears. The El Paso County Bar Association passed a resolution supporting a federal district court here in 2004, but to no avail.

First, the judges of the U.S. District that Colorado is in must be convinced, said Dick Carelli, spokesman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Then those judges must convince a group of U.S. judges called the Judicial Conference, who decide how federal courts are run. Then the General Services Administration would have to sign off on the project and agree to build it.

Finally, Congress would have to approve funding.

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