Second Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable Frank Martinez
Retention Year: 1994
Recommendation: Retain
Judge Frank Martinez received his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado in 1977 and his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1980. Judge Martinez began serving on the Denver District Court bench in January 1990. He currently hears criminal cases, after hearing domestic relations cases from January 1991 to January 1993.
Judge Martinez was in private law practice for eight and one-half years, where he primarily handled general litigation, domestic relations, civil and criminal cases.
Based upon a personal interview, review of written evaluations and courtroom observation, the Commission found that Judge Martinez works long hours and professional handles a heavy docket. He is fair, firm and respectful of the parties and their attorneys. He describes himself as a “by the book judge.” He believes that this approach and method of court management has led several attorneys to give him relatively low ratings in areas such as displaying a sense of justice, treating all parties equally, appropriate demeanor, courteousness, and compassion. Judge Martinez explains that he endeavors to send a firm message to litigants and their counsel but he agrees that improvement is needed in communicating his goals and reasoning to litigants and their attorneys.
Judge Martinez received generally high ratings in all areas from jurors. Judge Martinez received generally high ratings from attorneys in areas such as knowledge of the law, evidence and procedure, settlement matters, clarity of oral decisions, finding facts without public influence, courtroom control, diligence, promptness in rulings and decisions, fairness of sentencing and punctuality of proceedings.
Judge Martinez works to promote professionalism among the attorneys practicing in his court. He is also active in working with other judges on the district court bench to bring more standardized procedures to all the courts, to efficiently allocate resources, and to adopt and enforce rules to promotes standardized treatment of persons in court. Judge Martinez is active in several bar association and community activities, including matters pertaining to the family law bar.
The Second Judicial District Commission on Performance recommends Judge Martinez BE RETAINED.