Second Judicial District - Juvenile Court Judge
Honorable Pax Moultrie
Retention Year: 2022
Recommendation: Meets Performance Standard
Reports:
Need an accessible PDF Document version?
Please click on the link below and email our staff
The Second Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance agrees by a vote of 9-0, with one Commissioner absent from voting, that Judge Pax Moultrie MEETS PERFORMANCE STANDARDS. The Colorado statutory judicial performance standards are integrity, legal knowledge, communication skills, judicial temperament, administrative performance, and service to the legal profession and the public.
Judge Moultrie presides over juvenile cases in Denver Juvenile Court. Judge Moultrie meets all aspects of the judicial performance criteria and writes and communicates in a clear, concise, and well-reasoned manner. Judge Moultrie was described in survey results as knowledgeable, well prepared and exceptional. Commission members observed these qualities during their evaluation and interview. For the cases open on Judge Moultrie’s docket as of April 2022, Judge Moultrie met the Court’s benchmarks for completing 90% of juvenile adoption and permanency plan cases in 12 months, but did not meet, by a small margin, the benchmarks for completing 95% of juvenile delinquency and dependency and neglect cases within required timeframes. The Commission did not identify any evaluation category in which Judge Moultrie displayed a notable weakness.
The Commission met with the Juvenile Court Presiding Judge regarding Judge Moultrie’s performance, as well as members of the District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office and Probation Department. The Commission conducted a personal interview with Judge Moultrie and observed her during court proceedings. It also reviewed opinions she authored, comments received from interested parties during the evaluation, recordings from her courtroom, case management data, and judicial performance survey responses from attorneys and non-attorneys that interacted with her. The surveys reflected personal opinions on Judge Moultrie’s Case Management, Application and Knowledge of the Law, Communications, Diligence, Demeanor, and Fairness. Of the 11 attorneys and eight non-attorneys who completed the survey and reported they had sufficient knowledge of Judge Moultrie’s performance to evaluate her, 100% of the attorneys and 100% of the non-attorneys believe that Judge Moultrie met performance standards. Judge Moultrie’s combined (attorney and non-attorney) survey scores are above average for district court judges in all categories. Judge Moultrie received scores slightly above the statewide average for all district court judges from the 13 appellate judges who evaluated her performance. Judge Moultrie received nearly universal praise in comments submitted by attorneys and non-attorneys who interacted with her. While the Commission used these survey results in its evaluation, this evaluation tool was used in conjunction with several others to evaluate her performance. All data reviewed by the Commission supports the recommendation that Judge Moultrie be retained.
Governor Polis appointed Denver Juvenile Court in April 2020. She earned her undergraduate degree from Washington University and her law degree from the University of Denver. Previously, she was a Magistrate in the First Judicial District presiding over a caseload of juvenile and domestic relations matters. Judge Moultrie also was an Assistant County Attorney involved in human services litigation for the Arapahoe County and Jefferson County Attorney’s Offices. Her prior service has included membership on the boards of Colorado’s Office of Child Protection Ombudsman, Juvenile Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association, and the planning committee for the Colorado Juvenile Judicial Institute.