Pearson, Amanda 2012 Evaluation

Reports:

2012 Retention Survey Report (PDF)

2011 Interim Survey Report (PDF)

2009 Interim Survey Report (PDF)

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The Twelfth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance on a vote of 8-1 with one member absent recommends that Judge Amanda Kay Pearson BE RETAINED.

Judge Pearson was appointed to the Saguache County Court bench on March 23, 1998. She is presently the Senior County Court Judge and has helped to fill budget gaps in the last few years by appearing for other county judges when needed, without pay. She graduated from Adams State College in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and government. In 1987, she earned her law degree from the University of Colorado and was admitted to the Colorado Bar. She is currently obtaining her Masters in Organizational Leadership at Gonzaga University. From October 1987 through February 1989, Judge Pearson served as a deputy district attorney for the Twelfth Judicial District before going into private practice. Judge Pearson has also served as the Municipal Judge for the City of Alamosa and she has represented the Alamosa County Department of Social Services before retiring from that position in 2011.

In arriving at the recommendation for retention, the Commission noted that Judge Pearson’s strengths included her demonstration of compassion for those who appear before her and her calm demeanor while on the bench. The Commission was particularly impressed with Judge Pearson’s commitment to mentoring teenagers and her viewpoint on effective ways to educate the participants in her courtroom to prevent recidivism. Judge Pearson’s weaknesses include a perception that she utilizes too many outside sources in coming to her decisions and that she uses too much time in the courtroom to lecture defendants. Judge Pearson was both applauded and chastised for her “creative sentencing” techniques. Both Commissioners and survey respondents raised concern with Judge Pearson’s punctuality; however, the Commission was satisfied by the continuing efforts that Judge Pearson is making to correct this problem. Overall, the Commission finds that Judge Pearson’s strengths outweigh her weaknesses as a judicial officer. Judge Pearson received an average combined grade of B- from all survey participants. This was just slightly below the average combined grade for all county judges standing for retention.

Of all attorneys surveyed about retention, 86% recommended to retain and 15% recommended not to retain. (These percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.) This was 5% above the statewide retention recommendation for all county judges standing for retention. No attorneys surveyed felt that they were undecided or didn’t have enough information to make a recommendation. Of all non-attorneys surveyed about retention, 75% recommended to retain, 17% not to retain, and 8% were undecided or didn’t have enough information to make a recommendation. This was 9% below the statewide retention recommendation for all county judges standing for retention. Of those expressing an opinion to retain or not to retain, 81% recommended to retain and 19% recommended not to retain.