By Shannon Lukens.
The Honorable Michael A. O’Hara III is retiring in mid-January 2025, as District Judge in the 14th Judicial District. The district’s nominating commission will interview and select nominees in August, for a new judge to be appointed by Governor Polis. Applications must be submitted by July 16.
File photo of Judge O’Hara from Feb. 8, 2022.
Press Release from the Colorado Judicial Department; May 7, 2024.
14th Judicial District announces District Court vacancy
Commission sets date to select nominees
The 14th Judicial District Nominating Commission will meet on Aug. 12, 2024, at the Routt County Combined Court to interview and select nominees for appointment by the governor to the office of district judge for the 14th Judicial District (Grand, Moffat, and Routt counties). The vacancy will be created by the retirement of the Hon. Michael A. O’Hara III. The vacancy will occur on Jan. 14, 2025.
To be eligible, the applicant must be a qualified elector of the 14th Judicial District at the time of investiture and must have been admitted to the practice of law in Colorado for five years. The current annual salary for this position is $193,008. The initial term of office of a district judge is a provisional term of two years; thereafter, the incumbent district judge, if retained by the voters, has a term of six years.
Application forms are available from the office of the ex officio chair of the nominating commission, Justice William W. Hood III, 2 E. 14th Ave., Denver, CO 80203; and the office of the court executive, Peggy Gentles, 1955 Shield Dr., Unit 200, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487. Applications also are available at http://www.courts.state.co.us/Careers/Judge.cfm.
The completed application must be e-mailed to the address listed in the instructions below no later than 4 p.m. on July 16, 2024. Late applications will not be considered. Any person wishing to suggest a candidate to fill the vacancy may do so by letter to be submitted to any member of the nominating commission, with a copy to the ex officio chair, no later than July 9, 2024.
The members of the nominating commission for the 14th Judicial District are: Staci Nichols of Craig; Stephen Peters of Fraser; Sandra Doudna of Grand Lake; and Casey Quillen, Melinda Sherman, Ryan Dougherty, and Linda “Lulu” Gould of Steamboat Springs.