Aurora could reject muni domestic violence cases over proposed state public defender bill

AURORA | Aurora City Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky declared Friday that council conservatives would sooner overhaul how domestic violence cases are prosecuted in Aurora than back down from trying to privatize the work of the city’s public defenders.

The comments were made in light of a draft Colorado House bill that would prohibit flat-fee contracts for public defense in cities such as Aurora that try domestic violence cases in their municipal courts.

“If we continue prosecuting domestic violence cases, we are locked into our current city public defender’s office. We would not be able to bring in outside counsel, which we’re not going to back off from,” Jurinsky said during the March 29 meeting of the council’s Federal, State and Intergovernmental Relations Policy Committee.

“Should this (bill) pass, the City of Aurora will no longer prosecute domestic violence cases. So go ahead and write about that. Go ahead and put it in your pipe and smoke it, because that’s where we’re at.”

https://sentinelcolorado.com/metro/aurora-could-reject-muni-domestic-violence-cases-over-proposed-state-public-defender-bill/

So now the GOP wants to privatize public defenders? This seems not good.