ALAMOSA – Former District Attorney for the Twelfth District Robert Willett is officially seeking to regain his office with the announcement of his candidacy to the Valley Courier on Friday,
Willett is no stranger to the Twelfth Judicial District. Following an eight-year-stint in the U.S. Army where he was honorably discharged with commendations, Willett spent almost twenty years in law enforcement in the metro Denver area, being promoted from police officer to detective and training officer. Heeding the advice of several prosecutors he had met in the course of his duties, Willett decided to go to law school, ultimately graduating and taking his first prosecutor’s position with the DA’s office in the Fourth Judicial District in Colorado.
In 2013, Willett and family moved to the San Luis Valley for him to accept a position as a Deputy District Attorney. With the exception of a year when he returned to the Fourth Judicial District, Willett served in the DA’s office from 2013 to January of 2021, first as Deputy DA then Senior Deputy DA and ultimately District Attorney when appointed to that position by Governor Polis.
In what many described as a surprise upset, Willett lost to Alonzo Payne in the Democratic primary in 2020. The lack of a Republican opponent in the general election resulted in Payne assuming office in 2021.
While still keeping his home in the San Luis Valley, Willett accepted a job in the DA’s office in the Fourth Judicial District in January of 2021, where he has been serving ever since.
Two things prompted him to seek his former office.
“The San Luis Valley is my home – I never really left it. And it’s obvious that Alonzo Payne has made a hash of that whole office. It’s affecting public safety. Crime is increasing and offenders are now openly laughing at the police. Victims aren’t getting justice for the things that happened to them.
“Law enforcement can’t rely on effective prosecution in cases they’ve investigated with charges either being dismissed or not even addressed. Chief Anderson talked about cases sitting on the DA’s desk – I don’t have any firsthand information about that but, if that’s the case, this just can’t continue to go on. It’s making a mockery of the whole criminal justice system.
“The recall effort is approaching critical mass. I haven’t monitored it extremely closely, per se, but I think things are beginning to happen pretty quickly and the people in that jurisdiction need to know there is someone who’s willing to step in there and straighten that place up.”
Currently, the DA’s office is understaffed. As was previously reported in the Courier has attorney vacancies in the LEAD program and a strong possibility that the Diversion program will be handed off to another agency.
When asked what steps he would take to restore the basic infrastructure to an office that appears to be in crisis, Willett said, “Understaffing is always a problem. It was with me and my two predecessors. Every chief prosecutor has had to deal with that but we still made it work. We made it work.”
Willett says he is currently reaching out to several attorneys who may be willing to come there. “I’m not saying I could get the office immediately fully staffed – there’s always a learning curve and lag time. And I’m not saying I would necessarily fire anyone. Maybe the attorneys there now are fine people – I just don’t know them. But if they work for me, they’re going to have to change the philosophy that was there before. I’m not saying it’s going to be perfect, but it’s going to be different than it is right now.”
Willett is running as an unaffiliated candidate. Although he is a registered Democrat, his campaign committee is in place, made up of three Democrats, one Republican and one Unaffiliated.
“I’m not running against Alonzo Payne. The question is whether or not he should be recalled – that’s the question. But I don’t look at this as a partisan fight. This is way beyond partisan politics.. This situation is impacting public safety and unprecedented. So, I don’t claim he’s doing this because he’s a Republican or a Democrat but because he’s incompetent and has no idea how to address the needs of the people of the San Luis Valley.”
Alonzo Payne ran on a campaign advocating for criminal justice reform. When asked where he stands on the issue, Willett says, “Any system can be reformed, and people are fallible. They make mistakes. They make bad decisions. With a person who makes mistakes, there are better ways than incarceration.
“But every case is different. You have to look at the background. Is there a criminal history? Is this behavior that can be modified through means other than jail? Of course, there are people in jail who have issues that need to be addressed. Of course there are. But for Alonzo Payne to make a blanket statement that ‘the victims are in jail’ is patently absurd.”
Willett said he supports both the LEAD program and the Diversion program that were implemented prior to Payne taking office. “There is a whole spectrum of corrective measures in the system and if people do stupid things, stupid can be fixed Evil things? Evil things, not so much.” He then adds, “But not prosecuting serious crimes isn’t criminal justice reform, it’s malpractice.”
Plea deals are also common, he says, adding that 95% of the cases in country are pled down. “The question is what is a just outcome in this case? Some cases are “no offer” – murder, sexual assault. If someone is charged with murder and it’s pled down to third degree assault, that’s not a just outcome.” That is why communication with victims is crucial, he adds. Even if victims are angry and yelling, it is the prosecutor’s job to listen and try to explain.
But in some cases it is also necessary to go to trial, he says, adding he has done close to 100 jury trials, including a felony trial in every county in the valley. “You have to be prepared to go to trial, if need be.”
Numerous vacancies, a back log of cases and damaged relationships with other agencies suggests a daunting situation that Willett acknowledges will require work.
“I’m going to have to build bridges with commissioners, with law enforcement, Tu Casa, community corrections. It’s going to be a matter of restoring credibility, which is currently non-existent.
“Whether it’s me or an opponent, whoever goes in there will be spending hours trying to clear the backlog. You have to look at the statute of limitations. Cases will have to be filed if they’re fileable. Some cases will probably have to go away. For probably for the first 6 weeks, my job would be to try to triage what can be saved. And if I have to do it by myself, so be it.”
Robert Willett is facing a challenge of his own connected to a charge of embezzlement filed by DA Payne several days after the recall campaign was announced – a charge that, if convicted, would prohibit someone from holding public office.
“I can’t go into it too much,” he says, “but it’s my belief it’s politically motivated. I think if people look at the timing of when charges were filed, they’ll draw their own conclusions. No one should weaponize the justice system to go after their opponents.”
This week, Robert Willett took a leave of absence from office to campaign and is transitioning back to the valley as he files documents with the Secretary of State and gets things going. He is preparing to launch a website and a Facebook page and, once here, plans to spend a lot of time speaking with community groups, law enforcement and others.
