Kristy Martinez, Boulder County judge, was “a fiery advocate”
Boulder County Judge Kristy Martinez, who also served as the first full- time director of the University of Colorado’s Korey Wise Innocence Project, died Tuesday morning.
A post from the Boulder County Bar Association did not list a cause but indicated Martinez had been receiving cards and emails for several weeks and “spent a lovely afternoon reading every letter and sharing stories with her colleagues.”
“The Boulder County Bar is grieving the loss of Judge Martinez this morning,” the post read. “We are so grateful for everything she has done for our members and appreciate all she has given to make this community a better place.”
Martinez was appointed as a Boulder County judge by then- Gov. John Hickenlooper in 2018, and she took the bench in early 2019.
She had just been retained for another term in the November general election.
“I jus t wanted to be a good l a w y e r , ” Ma r t i n e z t old t he Camera in 2018 of her move to the bench. “As I grew professionally, that became more of an aspirational goal. But I didn’t start out thinking I wanted to become a judge.”
Martinez began her career as a deputy district attorney in Adams County after graduating from the University of Denver College of Law and being admitted to the Colorado Bar in 2000.
Prior to being appointed as a judge, Martinez was a law professor at CU and was the director of the law school’s Innocence Project chapter, which had just been renamed after Wise made a $ 190,000 donation.
“She really was our first paid staff person, so we worked together really closely,” said Ann England, a CU law professor and the founder of the Korey Wise Innocence Project. “She really took our project from being just a volunteer kind of program to a real Innocence Project. We had a huge backlog of letters and applications and things like that that were sitting around this tiny little office, and she went thorough it all with some volunteers.”
England said Martinez was “a fierce advocate” for her clients but also a great teacher and mentor, which made her great for her role.
“She really fought for all of her clients, especially people we came to believe were innocent in the project,” England said. “She was also just a very warm, wonderful teacher and mentor to a lot of law students.
“The world is a sadder place without her.”
“Mentor” was also the word state Attorney General Phil Weiser, who was the dean of the law school when Martinez was there, used to describe her.
“Judge Kristy Martinez was a fighter for justice and an extraordinary mentor,” Weiser said.
“I brought her to the CU Law School to lead the Korey
Wise Innocence Project, which she steered masterfully.
“Judge Martinez’s passion for justice, concern for others and her moral compass will be missed. Her memory will live on as a blessing.”
District Attorney Michael Dougherty, in addition to working with Martinez as a judge in recent years, also worked with her while she was still at CU on some of his early initiatives as a new district attorney.
“I had the privilege of meeting Kristy Martinez when she was the head of the Korey Wise Innocence Project,” Dougherty said in a statement.
“She provided invaluable guidance and assistance to us in establishing our Conviction Integrity Unit. From that, I got to know her personally and professionally.
“She loved her family dearly. Kristy cared deeply about the legal profession and she was honored to become a judge. She will be missed. She was a truly special and wonderful person.”