A Denver jury discovered former state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis responsible on Wednesday of three counts of forgery and one cost of making an attempt to affect a public servant, all felonies that stemmed from allegations that she mistreated aides whereas in workplace.
Every forgery cost carries the potential of 1 to 3 years in jail. The try and affect a public servant cost carries a possible sentence of two to 6 years. The prosecuting lawyer mentioned the state would search probation, nevertheless, at Jaquez Lewis’ sentencing listening to, set for Feb. 27.
The case originated with accusations that Jaquez Lewis, a Longmont Democrat, mistreated her aides whereas she served within the state legislature. However the matter grew to become a felony legal case due to steps she took to keep away from punishment by the Senate Ethics Committee.
Her Senate colleagues convened the ethics committee in January 2025 to analyze a litany of accusations that Jaquez Lewis tried to withhold pay from one aide and used others to carry out work round her home. If discovered to violate Senate guidelines, Jaquez Lewis may have confronted an expulsion vote.
She as an alternative resigned her seat in February, hours earlier than the committee revealed that she submitted a number of letters of help, purportedly from former staffers. However the staffers didn’t write them.
The falsely attributed letters drew the eye of the Denver District Lawyer’s Workplace, which introduced the felony prices in opposition to Jaquez Lewis in Denver District Court docket.
“These are public paperwork, in a public listening to, and these individuals’s reputations matter. (Jaquez Lewis) doesn’t get to make use of their title to advance her personal curiosity,” Chief Deputy District Lawyer Robert Nitido mentioned in his closing argument Wednesday. “… She was backed right into a nook, and she or he determined to do the one factor she knew to do, and that was to create help out of complete fabric.
“She didn’t do it out of some concern response. She did it to persuade a committee to vote the best way she would really like.”
In testimony Wednesday morning, Jaquez Lewis admitted to submitting the letters within the title of her former aides. She mentioned one case was a easy mistake of blending up a former aide, who would have been OK with the letter being in her title, with a special aide who has the identical first title.
In two different situations, Jaquez Lewis mentioned she thought she was representing the ideas of the previous aides, despite the fact that they didn’t instantly authorize the letters.
“I ran out of time. I used to be not engaged on the letters, till the very finish. I used to be overwhelmed, and I needed to get it in,” Jaquez Lewis mentioned throughout her testimony.
Her lawyer, Craig Lewis Truman, emphasised the stress that Jaquez Lewis felt within the Capitol, compounded by an ethics committee that Jaquez Lewis felt was biased in opposition to her.
“Do you assume she would put all of it on the road for a letter to those kangaroo courts? Or was it as a result of she was below the gun?” Truman mentioned to jurors earlier than their deliberations started.
Jaquez Lewis first joined the state legislature in 2019. She grew to become a senator in 2021. She was reelected in 2024.
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