Caryn A. Datz

Caryn A. Datz was appointed to the Seventeenth Judicial District Court, which covers Adams and Broomfield counties, by Governor Hickenlooper in August 2018. Voters retained her in 2020 with 72.48 percent of the votes cast on the question: 165,855 yes and 62,965 no. After presiding over a juvenile delinquency and dependency and neglect docket, she has returned to a criminal docket.

Before her appointment she was a chief trial deputy in the Twentieth Judicial District Attorney's Office in Boulder County. She earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish and English from the University of Wisconsin in 1998 and graduated from the University of Miami School of Law in 2001. She has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado School of Law.

The Seventeenth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance voted 8 to 0 that she meets performance standards, with two commissioners absent. The commission observed her in court and interviewed her, the district's chief judge and representatives of the public defender's and district attorney's offices.

The commission writes that she "knows the law and applies it consistently and impartially" and that her "demeanor is professional, which promotes an atmosphere of respect and public confidence in her integrity." It says she gives participants a chance to be heard while keeping control of her courtroom, and that her written communications are clear and well reasoned.