Author Archive

Denver County Court Opens New Competency Support Docket

A progress approach to helping people with mental illness.

Whether a person understands court proceedings and can assist in their own defense is fundamental to a functioning criminal justice system. To better meet the needs of defendants where competency concerns have been raised, the Denver County Court today announced the opening of its new Competency Support Docket. The goal of this specialty docket is to connect these defendants with mental-health support services so that they get the help they need, while at the same time allowing for legal proceedings to continue as quickly as possible. Based on the experience of other courts with similar programs, the expectation is to see an increase in public safety and a decrease in recidivism rates.

“Competency cases are resource and time intensive and often involve several separate agencies. By having these cases heard and supported by a dedicated team that is fluent in competency-related matters, we expect to shorten the time it takes to stabilize defendants, keep these cases moving forward and improving public safety,” said Denver County Court Presiding Judge Kerri Lombardi. “This approach supports equitable and procedural justice because all individuals will now have the same opportunities to connect with programs, resources, services, and specialized expertise when competency is raised or is in question. I want to commend Judge Kelly Cherry for her efforts to launch the Competency Support Docket and thank her for presiding over these cases.”

To be eligible for the Competency Support Docket, a person must first be charged with a misdemeanor offense in the City and County of Denver and have their competency to proceed in question. The individual will then be assessed by Denver Health using a screen to determine the likelihood of being found incompetent to proceed. Individuals who are found to meet all eligibility criteria will have their cases reviewed in the Competency Support Docket for further case proceedings. The Competency Support Docket team will then look at all possible case
avenues for individuals to be diverted to treatment and support services outside of the formal legal competency process as appropriate.

The Competency Support Docket is held in Courtroom 3G of the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse with the Honorable Judge Kelly Cherry presiding. It is staffed by stakeholders who have expertise in competency-related guidance, resources, and case proceedings. This specialty court is a project between Denver County Court, the Denver District Attorney’s Office, the Colorado Public Defender’s Office, Denver Health, Bridges of Colorado, Servicios de la Raza, Denver FIRST, Second Chance Center, WellPower, the Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health, and other service and treatment providers.

About Denver County Court

As Denver’s third branch of government, Denver County Court is the court where justice starts. It is our mission to serve the public by promoting the rule of law and administering justice fairly, efficiently, and effectively. The Court is committed to providing an environment that is safe, accessible, and respectful to all who come before it. Denver County Court handles more than 100,000 criminal and civil cases each year making it the busiest court with the highest caseload of any court in Colorado. In addition, Denver County Court has the most diverse bench in the state and one of the most diverse benches in the country. In 2022, a city-wide survey found that Denver County Court employees have the highest level of engagement in the city with 93.2% of court employees finding their work meaningful.

Contact Information

Carolyn A. Tyler, Public Information Officer
carolyn.tyler@denvercountycourt.org
720-865-7816

Digital Accessibility – Progress to Date Report: Pursuant to HB24-1454

Project Title:

Government Website Accessibility Enhancement

Project Overview:

The Denver County court maintains a strong commitment to removing barriers from access to justice and is committed to ensuring that all of our public facing websites are accessible to individuals with disabilities in accordance with House Bill HB21-1110, House Bill HB24-1454 extended that websites and services conform the WCAG2.1AA standard by July 1st, 2024; and HB24-1454 extended that date to July 1st, 2025 provided a good faith effort was being shown, and documented via a progress to date report, which must be posted on the first page of public facing websites and updated quarterly.

The project involves auditing, remediating and enhancing digital content and functionality accross all of the Denver County Court’s public facing websites. As a coequal independent branch of government, the Denver County Court’s websites are separate and distinct from websites operated by the City & county of Denver.

This “progress to date report” and the quarterly updates made to the report as required by HB24-1454 prior to the July 1st, 2025 “go-live” date are the only official reports and other reports which may be issued by the City & County of Denver do not apply to the Denver County Court.

Project Complexity:

1. Difficulty: Moderate – (Requires informal project plan.)
2. Resources: Heavy – (Mostly human resource needs. Some software requirements.)
3. Time: Moderate – (Downgraded to slight with HB24-1454.)
4. Budget: N/A

Challenges and Mitigations:

1. Other legislative priorities for 2024 requiring developer involvement
2. Urgent need to prioritize replacement of legacy programs that utilize programming language no longer supported;
3. Notification of engagement conference for City and County of Denver IT risk audit

Project Objectives and status of Progress to Date:

1. Review HB21-1100, WCAG 2.1AA in their entirety by key members of the Court’s executive leadership and supervisory team; – Completed
2. Review Department of Justice (DOJ)requirements regarding WCAG 2.1AA and government operated public facing websites; – Completed
3. Review state judicial and the City and County of Denver’s technology services documents, trainings, proposed best practices, etc. on topic – Completed
4. Identify areas needing improvement and plan sequencing and assigned staff for making those improvements; – Completed
5. Draft and make ready for posting the Denver County Court’s policy statement for digital accessibility; – Completed
6. Create feedback channel for public to submit suggestions for modification or enhancements to our public facing websites; – Completed
7. Perform comprehensive review and analysis of www.DenverCountyCourt.org consisting of more than 400 individual web pages and several hundred forms; and the court’s more recently created public portal at Public.DenverCountyCourt.org; – Completed
8. Review prior testing audit results performed by human participants with real life disabilities (visual, auditory and physical) as performed on www.DenverCountyCourt.org in June 2018; – Completed
9. Review prior testing audit results performed by software as performed www.DenverCountyCourt.org in June 2018; – Completed
10. Purchase more modern and enhanced website template with a more robust WCAG 2.1AA compliant theme, and begin development of new/improved public facing website www.DenverCountyCourt.org; – Completed
11. Review color contrasts for compliance and make corrections where necessary; – Completed & Continuous
12. Review to visual navigation indicators via navigation using keyboard (tab button); – Completed & Continuous
13. Ensure public facing websites are adaptable to portrait or landscape view as well as mobile friendly views – Completed
14. Review current online documents and forms to determine necessity, compliance needs or general deletion from websites; – In Progress
15. Review of text and font with corrections where necessary; – Completed & Continuous
16. Review resizing of text excluding captions and images, up to 200% without loss of content or functionality; – Completed
17. Review of alternative text on all non-exempted images, graphics, logos, etc. with corrections where necessary; – In Progress & Continuous
18. Ensuring indicators/alt text appears for input purposes (e.g. input boxes/fields state ‘search’, etc.); – In Progress & Continuous
19. Ensuring captioning is active on all videos and in the language in which the video is provided (i.e. advisement video in English will be captioned in English, advisement video in Spanish will be captioned in Spanish); – In Progress & Pending Final Review
20. Review websites to ensure compliance with ‘time-out’ requirements; – Pending
21. Review websites to ensure compliance with no flashing content exceeding 3 flashes per second – Completed
22. Review web page titles for purpose; – Completed
23. Draft and post on first page of Denver County Court’s public facing websites, the Digital Accessibility Progress-To-Date report prior to July 1, 2024 as required by HB24-1454; – Complete
    1. Provide the required quarterly update to the Digital Accessibility Progress-To-Date report on or before October 1st, 2024; – Future Date
    2. Provide the required quarterly update to the Digital Accessibility Progress-To-Date report on or before January 1, 2025; – Future Date
    3. Provide the required quarterly update to the Digital Accessibility Progress-To-Date report on or before April 1, 2025; – Future Date
    4. Provide the final required quarterly update to the Digital Accessibility Progress-To-Date report on or before July 1, 2025 and make any necessary changes; – Future Date
24. Implement necessary enhancements, changes, and remediations to ensure compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA standards; – In Progress & Continuous
    1. Although not required, where possible without an expanded level of effort, implement necessary enhancements, changes, and remediations to the WCAG 2.1 AAA compliance level; – In Progress & Continuous
25. Create process for ensuring proper vetting of future website enhancements or additions to ensure continued compliance; – Pending
26. Conduct a comprehensive software based accessibility audit of all Denver County Court’s public facing websites; – Pending
27. Conduct a comprehensive human based accessibility audit of all Denver County Court’s public facing websites utilizing where possible persons with visual, auditory, motor and cognitive disabilities; – Pending
28. Establish a process for ongoing accessibility monitoring and maintenance; – Pending
29. Review to ensure programmatically identifying human language of each page (e.g. specify page as English language in code where necessary); – Pending
30. Review of hover and focus actions for compliance; – Pending
31. Review of abbreviations and acronyms for ability to easily identify their meaning; – Pending
32. Review of error detection and recommendations provided to rectify (e.g. ‘error message: you may only enter numbers in the telephone number field’); – Pending
33. Perform full legal, financial, and data error detection; – Pending
34. Review of ‘help’ functions; – Pending
35. Perform comprehensive software based compliance testing; – Pending
36. Perform comprehensive human testing via persons with disabilities; – Pending
37. Create checklist guide and documentation for future enhancements, maintenance and changes to websites; – Pending
38. Determine, create and implement ongoing compliance monitoring and maintenance plan; – Pending

Conclusion:

The Denver County Court has made significant progress towards achieving compliance with Colorado HB21-1110 and is on-track to meet the initial July 1, 2024 deadline specified in HB21-1110. Additionally, the passage of HB24-1454 enables the court to expand where needed additional reviews and remediations for compliance with WCAG 2.1AA.

The continued focus on accessibility guidelines by the court helps us in fulfilling our mission, removing barriers to access to justice and will ensure that our public facing websites remain and are accessible to all.

Traffic Infractions:

If you have received a traffic ticket that shows reduced points and a fine on the face of the ticket, please click HERE to enter your ticket number and receive information about how to proceed with your ticket.

You may have two options on how to proceed:

• You can plead guilty and pay the ticket, online.  If you want to do this, the ticket must be paid before the virtual appearance time on your summons.
• You can plead not guilty.  If you want to do this, you must appear in person at 1437 Bannock Street, Room 135, Denver, CO 80202 to set a Final Hearing.  You must appear in person on any workday prior to the time listed on the ticket.

If you have questions, please contact the Clerk’s Office at 720-865-7840.  The Clerk’s Office hours are: Monday – Thursday 8:00AM – 6:00PM, Friday 8:00AM – 4:00PM.