Arapahoe County budget proposes conviction-integrity prosecutor; DA cites federal grant

Arapahoe County’s recommended 2027 budget would add a full-time deputy district attorney to a proposed conviction-integrity unit. District Attorney Amy Padden told commissioners her office received a $600,000 federal grant over three years to support wrongful-conviction work, during an Oct. 27 budget hearing.

The county’s recommended budget lists one ongoing, full-time Deputy District Attorney position in a proposed Conviction/Justice Integrity Unit, at a budgeted cost of $192,289. Padden said the grant would essentially fund an investigator and, if possible, a paralegal; the budget package lists no separate grant-funded positions.

The position remains a proposal. Commissioners continued the budget hearing and are scheduled to consider adoption Dec. 8, according to the county’s budget schedule. The proposal and Padden’s remarks do not specify when the prosecutor would be hired or begin reviewing cases.

Padden said in a 2025 announcement about her swearing-in that she wanted a conviction-integrity process to examine claims of actual innocence and cases involving potentially disparate sentences. She has not publicly described how cases would be selected for the proposed position.

The National Registry of Exonerations lists an 18th Judicial District Conviction Review Unit founded in 2019. At the Oct. 27 hearing, the commission chair said implementing a conviction-integrity unit is the district’s responsibility, while the county considers budget requests.