Seventeenth Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable Phillip F. Roan
Retention Year: 1994
Recommendation: Retain
Judge Phillip F. Roan was appointed to the Adams County District Court in September, 1980. Judge Roan obtained his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Denver. He entered the practice of law in 1965. Prior to his appointment to the district court, Judge Roan was in private practice specializing in municipal law.
During his tenure as a district court judge, Judge Roan has served in the criminal, roving and domestic relations divisions. He has primarily handled criminal and domestic relations cases. The judge is presently presiding over criminal cases.
The results of the judicial surveys were overwhelmingly for retention of Judge Roan as a district court judge. Of all those who responded to the survey questionnaires, 78.1% believed Judge Roan should be retained, 14.6% believed he should not be retained and 7.3% of the respondents had no opinion regarding his retention. Of non-attorney respondents, 100% believed Judge Roan should be retained. Of attorney respondents, 77.3% believed Judge Roan should be retained, 15.1% believed Judge Roan should not be retained and 7.6% had no opinion. Of all judges who were evaluated for retention, Judge Roan’s survey response sample was deemed to be the most valid due to the large number of responses received. There were a total of 357 survey questionnaires returned regarding Judge Roan’s performance.
Judge Roan was rated most highly in areas regarding maintaining courtroom control, promptness in rulings, decisions and commencement of proceedings, diligence of work, appropriateness and fairness in sentencing and finding facts without regard to public influence. Judge Roan was rated lowest in areas pertaining to his courteousness, demeanor and compassion. In all other areas Judge Roan scored highly.
Typical positive comments regarding Judge Roan included statements generally indicating he is prompt, handles domestic cases very well, is strict but fair and personable.
Typical negative comments regarding Judge Roan included statements generally indicating he can be rude and discourteous at times.
The commission in its rating of this judge at the time of his interview gave him an average score of 4.0 on a scale of one to five with five being rated as excellent and four as good. Commission members indicated a belief that Judge Roan was a thoughtful jurist although perhaps a bit “quick on the trigger” upon occasion. Additional comments included a belief that Judge Roan was a strong and ethical judge with a strong sense of fairness.
Based on the information made available to the commission, the commission unanimously voted to RECOMMEND RETENTION.