ALAMOSA — When 12th Judicial District Attorney (DA) Anne Kelly sent an email to Wesley Stafford about a potential Assistant District Attorney’s (ADA) position, it turned out to be the right offer to the right person from the right person at the right time.
Kelly, like DAs across the state, has encountered challenges in recruiting and retaining good, experienced prosecutors. Even though she has been fully staffed, she has been operating without an ADA since she was sworn into the job two years ago.
Stafford is an attorney with more than 10 years of experience in general prosecution and sex crimes prosecution, seven of which were spent in the Miami District Attorney’s Office and, more recently, three years with the Houston DA.
“My fiancé had always dreamed of moving to Colorado,” he says. “In fact, she’d planned to move to Colorado, and I screwed up all her plans. So, when I showed her the email and said, hey, are we interested in this, she almost tackled me pushing the ‘yes’ button.”
Stafford, who comes across as an engaging and friendly yet clearly professional person, can also hit the ground running. Due to being licensed in both Texas and Florida, he has a “practice pending admission” which, under Kelly’s supervision, allows him all the “normal workings of an attorney”, like filing paperwork or acting in court on his own behalf.
While in Miami, Stafford was an assistant state attorney handling a broad range of cases. When he moved to Houston, he became more specialized in sexual abuse. During the past year and a half, while he was in the Child Sexual Abuse Division, Stafford had 270 of his cases in two courts with 75 of them set for trial. In one nine-month period, he went to trial 12 times, all child sex abuse cases.
When asked what prosecuting so many really tough cases does to a person, Stafford laughs, a genuine and warm sound.
“That’s why I’m here,” he says. “There’s a difference to go from a trespass to a theft to a crime with guns to child sexual abuse. That’s a whole different world you just have to get used to.”
Asked how he keeps faith in humanity prosecuting cases like that, he says, “It’s actually easier here – at least for the time I’ve been here so far – because it’s such a closeknit community. When I go out and talk with people, there are real, human connections. When you’re in a city with three million people, they’re completely anonymous, so all you see is the bad and everybody is just going about their lives as fast as they can. Here, there’s real community and, so far, I’m really enjoying it.”
Stafford sees his role as ADA directly tied to Kelly, who “has a pretty solid view” of where she wants the office to go.
“We’ve integrated really quickly the administrative side as well as the litigation side of what I’m doing. So, it’s about making sure her vision keeps moving forward. From what I’ve seen, it’s really headed in the right direction,” he said.
He then adds, “But, ultimately, I serve at the pleasure of the District Attorney.”
Stafford will be chief of staff over the attorneys, involved in training other attorneys as much as he can. Along with Kelly, he’s also going to try to give law enforcement on the ground a little more training.
“I’m actually really excited about going to work with the police departments to give them as much help as I can,” he said.
Stafford comes from enormous DA offices in both Miami and Houston. When asked about making the adjustment, he says, “One of the bigger reasons I wanted to work with Anne is that she’s one of the nicest people in the world. But she’s also very supportive and direct with how she wants to change things and make things better.
“I came here with the intention of staying. It’s a great opportunity and a great position. I love the idea of being able to help people as an Assistant District Attorney and the case load that I have. I’m very passionate about the sex assault cases. It’s one of the areas where you can really put on that white hat and say, ‘I have an innocent victim’ because a child is always going to be innocent. And it’s always satisfying to give the family justice because these are some of the worst crimes that can happen.”
Being an ADA in a small town can be a different experience from what he’s known in the past, but not as big as people might expect.
“People see justice as people going to prison. That’s not always what happens. There are a lot of things we can do to help young people get back on track. But there are also people who need to be in jail. Although a lot of what we do happens in the courtroom, everything we do has an impact on people outside. That’s true everywhere,” he said.
“Our Office continues to prioritize recruiting and retaining skilled and dedicated attorneys to serve the San Luis Valley,” Kelly states. “We have attracted attorneys here by highlighting the opportunity to be part of a team focused on materially improving the community’s perception of the district attorney’s office and the justice system. I am proud of the work that we have done, and recruiting Mr. Stafford is a huge win for the San Luis Valley.”
