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Barry Morphew's attorney files investigation request against Chaffee County DA

The filing with the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel is not the first against Chaffee County DA Linda Stanley – she has been reprimanded by judges before.

CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo. — District attorneys are elected to prosecute crimes, but now one Colorado DA is being investigated herself. 

A series of complaints filed against 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley have prompted an office in the Colorado Supreme Court to look into allegations of misconduct.

A new 80-page Request for Investigation was just filed with the Colorado Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel for unethical behavior.

The latest filing against Stanley was filed by Iris Eytan, the lawyer for Barry Morphew.

Stanley brought murder charges against Morphew in 2021 in connection with his missing wife in Chaffee County, Suzanne. Stanley confidently told reporters she had the information she needed to successfully prosecute Morphew. She asked a judge to dismiss the case only days before the high-profile case was set to go to trial. Charges could be refiled if new evidence is found.

In October 2022, the same office that has the power to discipline attorneys across the state confirmed to 9NEWS they were already investigating Stanley based on allegations of wrongdoing. Stanley is the elected DA for Chaffee, Fremont, Park, and Custer counties.

"It’s always worrisome if any particular lawyer has multiple complaints or requests for investigations filed against them," said 9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson. "It starts with a complaint, a request for investigation. The next step, if the disciplinary counsel thinks it’s appropriate, is to ask the lawyer to respond. Then, if regulatory counsel thinks it’s merited, they will actually file a complaint and seek discipline against the lawyer."

Robinson said the ultimate punishment for a district attorney is disbarment. Voters could in theory try and recall a district attorney as well.

   

"The whole purpose of having a disciplinary counsel is to make sure lawyers act ethically," said Robinson. "That they do what they’re supposed to do. If they don’t act ethically, the whole system breaks down."

Eytan told 9NEWS in October that Stanley is not fit for the job.

"I do not think Linda Stanley should be able to prosecute people anymore," Eytan said. 

In the past few years, Stanley has been censured publicly by the attorney regulation counsel for misconduct in a different case. She and her team have been reprimanded by judges for missing deadlines and failing to share evidence with the defense team. She was also scrutinized for speaking to a true crime podcast about the murder case she was prosecuting.

9NEWS reached out to Stanley, but did not hear back. She did reply to us last November when we asked her about the last investigation into her conduct launched by the attorney regulation counsel. 

She was most concerned about how we knew about it, saying she did not think the investigation into her conduct was public because "no one is assumed to have violated any rules."

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