Fourth Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable Eric Bentley
Retention Year: 2024
Recommendation: Meets Performance Standards
Reports:
2024 Retention Survey Report (PDF)
2021 Interim Survey Report (PDF)
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The Fourth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance voted 7-0 with three absent that Judge Eric Bentley MEETS PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.
Over this past six-year term, Judge Bentley’s docket has consisted of roughly 45% criminal, 45% civil, and 5% domestic relations cases. He has presided over several high-profile cases that have received substantial media attention and where family and friends of the litigants have attended to observe the proceedings. He is generally regarded as thoughtful, deliberative, and exacting. His written orders are well-researched and issued in a timely fashion. He is not afraid to tackle hard issues if they are properly presented for decision. He is an excellent communicator and has an even, measured judicial temperament. While he received some criticism from a few criminal attorneys that he does not manage his criminal docket well, those comments were decidedly the minority view. When necessary, Judge Bentley works late and over the weekend to ensure he is meeting his own high standards of excellence and providing attorneys and litigants with thoughtful, carefully researched orders. He is widely recognized as being extremely intelligent.
The Commission evaluated Judge Bentley’s performance by observing him in court, reading orders he issued, reviewing surveys submitted by attorneys and non-attorneys who had appeared in his courtroom, reviewing his self-evaluation, and conducting an in-person interview. During that interview, the Commission confirmed that he had filed all his financial disclosures and that he had no disciplinary issues. The Commission also discussed with Judge Bentley his appellate record, which revealed only three reversals in 29 cases. Appellate judges rated Judge Bentley 3.8 on a scale of 4.0 and one appellate judge comment stated he is an excellent judge in all respects. In addition, the Commission heard comments on Judge Bentley’s performance from the District Attorney, Public Defender, and Chief Judge of the Fourth Judicial District. On the 2024 Judicial Performance Survey, survey invites were sent to 869 attorneys and non-attorneys, but only 24 of them responded. That response rate of 2.8% makes the surveys statistically invalid. Of the responders, the overwhelming majority believed Judge Bentley met performance standards. He received a combined score of 3.5 out of 4.0.
Judge Bentley was appointed to the District Court in October 2016. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and his law degree from Yale Law School. After clerking for two federal judges, he worked as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. He moved to Colorado in 2001 and practiced civil litigation in private practice in Colorado Springs for fifteen years before his appointment to the bench.