Daniel Walzl

Daniel Walzl has served on the Alamosa County Court since 2011. He hears civil, criminal, misdemeanor, traffic and small claims cases, with attorneys and self-represented parties appearing before him, and he held 18 jury trials in 2025. Voters retained him in 2022 with 73.98 percent of the votes cast on the question: 3,836 yes and 1,349 no.

He earned his law degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1999 and clerked for Judge Thomas M. Jahnke of the Superior Court in Ketchikan, Alaska. He then spent 11 years as a deputy state public defender, first in Pueblo and then in Alamosa.

The Twelfth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance voted 6 to 0 that he meets performance standards, with two commissioners absent and two vacancies on the commission. His overall survey rating was 3.4 in 2026, up from 3.1 in 2025. Of those responding, 14 non-attorneys found that he meets performance standards; two attorneys and one non-attorney found that he does not, and one non-attorney gave no opinion.

The commission writes that he "recognizes that Alamosa County court is a high volume, high conflict courtroom" and that "He has a fair expectation that attorneys act professionally and come prepared for court." The commission writes that it "specifically heard and addressed the ongoing feedback from a small number of attorneys that are critical of his performance, which Judge Walzl responded to with candor and insight." It "concluded that such critiques from attorneys were not credible."