Incoming District Attorney George Brauchler launches new Colorado 23rd Judicial District with tough-on-crime message

For the first time in over 60 years, Colorado is getting a new Judicial District. The change will happen on Tuesday.

For decades, the 18th Judicial District has encompassed Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties. As those communities grew, the district became the largest in the state. A political divide also emerged between left-leaning Arapahoe County and the other conservative communities.

In 2020, a bipartisan effort in the state legislature split the district, leaving only Arapahoe County in the 18th Judicial District and creating a new district for the remaining counties, the state's 23rd.

After years of preparation, the district will officially launch Tuesday and take over all cases in their jurisdiction from the 18th. Tuesday is also when the district attorney will be sworn in.

George Brauchler will be the first-ever district attorney for Colorado's 23rd Judicial District, encompassing Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln counties.

"It's exciting. It's a bit challenging, too, because you're trying to create something new out of something that's existed now for over 60 years, and that's the old 18th judicial district," Brauchler said.

Brauchler says it's a difficult process to separate information and databases from the 18th Judicial District.

"We now have to divorce Arapahoe County, a new Judicial District, the 18th, from the 23rd and the process of figuring out a way to keep those technological infrastructures for databases, electronic information, making sure that access is controlled and, in some cases prohibited, between the two, standing up an office here that is separated from all those others. It's a technological hurdle, but these folks out here in Douglas County have done a great job," Brauchler said.

As the only Republican DA in the Denver metro area, Brauchler wants to send a message.

"This is the map for those people who just can't figure out how to live a law-abiding life to avoid this part of the state. 'Cause this is where you go to get incarcerated," Brauchler said, while gesturing to a map he had made depicting a route for a "23rd Judicial District bypass."

Brauchler has previously served as DA for the 18th Judicial District, where he prosecuted some of the state's biggest mass shooting cases.

"I ended up prosecuting the cases that grew out of Columbine and the Aurora theater case and the STEM mass shooting case. I'm here to tell you that if God shines his light on this jurisdiction, this will be the most boring district attorney's job in the state of Colorado," Brauchler said. "But what people ought to know down here is, if, God forbid, something like that happened, there is no one more experienced than I am in handling those cases."

Without Arapahoe County in this district, Brauchler expects to have less violent crime to prosecute, but plans to take a harsh stance against property crime.

"We're going to take a very dim view of thieves out here, a very dim view of car thieves, burglars, trespassers. And what I've been trying to tell people since before I took over is this: if you come here to victimize us, if you come down here to steal from us, your expectation should be incarceration," Brauchler said.

He's also ready to tackle crime that "spills over" from neighboring districts.

"When Denver catches a cold, when it comes to crime or bad policies, it doesn't just stay in Denver. It spills over everywhere. Well, if Aurora can't figure out its gang issues and its other large crime issues, they're going to come right down here and affect us. So my goal will be to work with our partners up north, that's a fantastic police department, help them to accomplish what they want to accomplish," Brauchler said.

Brauchler wants the DA's office to feel like a part of the community and is excited to work with law enforcement partners who share his tough-on-crime stance.

Earlier this week, he spoke to the press after the sentencing of Ruben Morones, the driver who ran a red light in March, striking and killing 13-year-old Alex Mackiewicz. Morones pleaded guilty to careless driving resulting in death, a misdemeanor, and received the maximum sentence Tuesday of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

"I can't think of another charge on Colorado's books that results in the death of another human being that has such a low punishment as this one," Brauchler said at Tuesday's press conference.

Brauchler and other state and local leaders from both political parties are supportive of an effort by Mackiewicz's mother to change state law so crimes like this are charged as felonies.

"If the only message people take away from this interview or this new Judicial District is 'Damn, I better not go down there to commit a crime,' that's a win all by itself," Brauchler said.