Post, Rocky articles about latest trouble for Chambers omitted her GOP affiliation

Summary: Reporting on Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers being barred from prosecuting a death penalty case, the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post noted past controversies involving Chambers but failed to identify her as a Republican. Colorado Media Matters has documented that both newspapers repeatedly omitted her party affiliation from previous reports, including those regarding a 2006 censure involving Chambers' alleged activities for a local GOP official.

The Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post on April 9 published articles reporting that a judge had barred Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers from prosecuting a death penalty case. But in referencing past controversies involving Chambers, both newspapers repeated their past practice of failing to indicate that she is an elected Republican and that a 2006 public censure involved her alleged activities on behalf of a local GOP official.

The News reported that in an order that became public April 8, Lincoln County District Judge Stanley Brinkley ruled that Chambers' office along with the capital crimes unit of the state Attorney General's Office "violated professional ethical rules by not disclosing conflicts of interest by two prosecutors who previously represented" Alejandro Perez, an inmate at the Limon Correctional Facility who is being prosecuted for murder in the 2004 stabbing of fellow inmate Jeffrey Heird. The News further reported that Brinkley "also cited Chambers for violating state funding laws in billing the Department of Corrections for staff salaries for work in the case":

From the April 9 Rocky Mountain News article "Citing ethics rules, judge bars DA from prison murder case":

A district judge has barred Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers from prosecuting the death penalty case against one of two prisoners charged with killing a fellow inmate at the Limon Correctional Facility.

Lincoln County District Judge Stanley Brinkley disqualified Chambers' office and the capital crimes unit of the State Attorney General's Office from prosecuting Alejandro Perez in an order that became public Tuesday.

Brinkley ruled that prosecutors who previously represented Perez or witnesses in other cases had a conflict of interest in prosecuting him now.

The judge said the two offices violated professional ethical rules. He also cited Chambers for violating state funding laws in billing the Department of Corrections for staff salaries for work in the case.

[...]

Judge Stanley Brinkley ruled:

* The office of Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers and the capital crimes unit of the attorney general's office are barred from prosecuting the death penalty case against Alejandro Perez.

* The offices violated professional ethical rules by not disclosing conflicts of interests by two prosecutors who previously represented Perez or witnesses in other cases.

* Chambers violated the spirit of a state law that allows for counties to be reimbursed by the Department of Corrections for prosecuting inmates involved in crimes.

* Prosecutors cannot use more than 50 named inmate witnesses at a death penalty sentencing hearing for Perez because prosecutors used an uninformed "shotgun" approach in listing them as witnesses.

Although it noted that Chambers was "[e]lected in 2004" and "is no stranger to controversy," the News article did not disclose that she was elected as a Republican. Further, the News reported that in 2006 a three-judge panel found that "Chambers used the power of her office to intimidate a lawyer trying to collect a debt from an Englewood councilwoman Chambers knew" without mentioning, as Colorado Media Matters repeatedly noted, that the Englewood councilwoman was Laurett Barrentine, who at the time also was an Arapahoe County GOP official and had sought Chambers' assistance at a GOP function.

The Post similarly noted that the Brinkley order "is the latest in a series of criticisms against Chambers, who is seeking re-election this fall," and reported that she "received public censure in 2006 by an ethics panel for trying to intimidate a collections agency lawyer" -- but did not indicate the Republican connections in either case.

From the April 9 Denver Post article "DA's office taken off murder case":

CENTENNIAL -- District Attorney Carol Chambers' office has been yanked from a death penalty case after a judge ruled her office has a conflict of interest and violated professional rules of conduct.

A special prosecutor will be appointed in the trial of Alejandro Perez, an inmate at the Limon Correctional Facility.

[...]

This is the latest in a series of criticisms against Chambers, who is seeking re-election this fall.

Some think she has been too aggressive in seeking the death penalty. Of the seven Colorado defendants who face possible death sentences, six have their cases filed in the 18th Judicial District, which Chambers represents. She also received public censure in 2006 by an ethics panel for trying to intimidate a collections agency lawyer.

John Gleason, head of the Colorado Supreme Court's Attorney Regulation Counsel, said his office will wait until after the appeals process plays out before deciding whether to investigate Chambers' conduct.

—E.B.