Fourth Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable Theresa M. Cisneros
Retention Year: 2006
Recommendation: Retain
Reports:
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The Fourth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance unanimously, by a vote of 9 to 0 with one member absent, recommends Judge Theresa M. Cisneros BE RETAINED.
Judge Cisneros was appointed to the El Paso District Court bench in 1997. Before her appointment to the bench, Judge Cisneros was an attorney in private practice specializing in criminal defense and juvenile (delinquencies and dependency and neglect cases).
She received her undergraduate from the University of Colorado at Denver in 1979. She received her law degree from the University of Denver in 1983. Judge Cisneros presently hears domestic relations and juvenile cases. Her previous judicial assignments include civil, criminal, mental health, and dependency and neglect cases.
Judge Cisneros is active in community service working with the Boy Scouts of America, coaching the Coronado High School mock trial team, presiding at Teen Court, teaching every quarter at the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteer training, and frequently mentoring local elementary, middle school and high school students. She is the lead judge for the highly successful Demonstration Model Court Project of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Colorado Court Improvement Committee.
Judge Cisneros works hard to ensure timely resolutions of disputes and is sensitive to how delays in the court system affect people’s lives.
The Commission considered 105 written evaluations of Judge Cisneros from attorneys and non-attorneys, including written verbatim comments attached to the evaluation questionnaires and written comments from the public. The Commission also considered a written self-evaluation completed by Judge Cisneros, letters from the public, conducted a courtroom observation and a personal interview with Judge Cisneros.
On the evaluation questionnaires received from 105 survey respondents, Judge Cisneros received high ratings from both attorneys and non-attorneys in almost every category. Of the attorneys responding to the questionnaire, 85% recommended that Judge Cisneros be
retained, 13% recommended she not be retained, and 2% had no opinion. Of the non-attorneys responding to the questionnaire, 72% recommended Judge Cisneros be retained, 22% recommended she not be retained, and 5% had no opinion.