The Tyrant Judge of Grand Junction

By Nikoli Weir

The City of Grand Junction has long been waging a war against its unhoused citizens. From the shutting down of parks that were used by the homeless, to banning tents, evicting encampments, indiscriminate police harassment and even violence, no resource has gone unused in this vile campaign of dehumanization and dislocation. There is not a single government institution in Grand Junction that can claim innocence; they are all complicit in what amounts to a grand conspiracy to deprive the homeless people of Grand Junction of access to basic necessities and rights.

There is, however, one institution that can claim the title of most complicit, and that is the Grand Junction Municipal Court. In a recent letter to the Mayor and City Council of Grand Junction, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) delivers a thundering condemnation of the criminal activity of the local courts, and in particular that of Grand Junction Municipal Court Judge Tammy Eret; according to the ACLU, she “persistently and illegally denies court-appointed counsel to incarcerated people, coerces uncounseled guilty pleas, and often imposes lengthy, uncounseled, illegal jail sentences.”

To translate this all into everyday English, Judge Tammy Eret has (allegedly) deprived United States citizens of their constitutional right to legal representation, strong-armed defendants into pleading guilty to crimes that they did not commit, and then locked them up in the county jail on the taxpayers dime for sentences longer than allowed by law; the majority of these defendants, as mentioned earlier, did not receive the legally required representation in court. 

If this final alleged action had been done by someone who wasn’t a judge, it would be considered false imprisonment. This is a felony. But of course, because Judge Eret is an esteemed representative of the law, that means that she is above the law. But taxpayers are not. Under Colorado law, wrongful imprisonment is compensated at the rate of $191.78 per day per person. Our community is on the hook for millions.

The letter sent by the ACLU highlights a particularly egregious example of Judge Erat’s criminal behavior. This year, a homeless man by the name of David Schroeder was arrested by police on two petty theft charges—he stole food and a dog harness. He went before Judge Eret, who sentenced him to nine months in prison. According to Colorado law, as cited by the ACLU, “the maximum total penalty for these crimes is 20 days—10 days per count.” Not only that, but the defendant repeatedly made requests for an attorney to be provided to him and was denied each time by Judge Erat. The ACLU states that “Judge Erat coerced an illegal, uncounseled guilty plea from Mr. Schroeder and then imposed an illegal, uncounseled jail sentence.”

Judge Tammy Eret is also employed as the lead council for School District 51 (D51), a full-time position. She gets paid over 200k a year by D51, and then she is spending three days a week working as the Grand Junction Municipal Judge. The Mesa Valley Educators Association, the union that represents teachers in D51, made their position on this matter very clear in a recent mass email sent out: “We are calling for a full ethics investigation into the terms of her employment.”

If this isn’t the behavior of a thug and a petty tyrant, then what is? “Judge” Erat is not a judge; she is a criminal who hides behind a gavel and a black robe. David Schroeder is not the only victim of her criminal cruelty, and make no mistake, they are her victims. And just like any other serial criminal, Judge Erat has her preferred victims. It is typical for serial criminals to seek out the most disempowered victims, as they are the least likely to be capable of fighting back. And in this, Judge Erat is no exception; her preferred victims are people experiencing homelessness.

According to the letter by the ACLU, Judge Erat’s behavior is not confined to the case of David Schroeder; she has done this so many times that she has turned the Grand Junction Municipal Court into “an endless revolving door to Mesa County Jail, repeating a devastating cycle of incarceration without connecting people to services, all at county taxpayer expense.” 

This is a problem that is not unique to Grand Junction. A series of reports by The Denver Post has exposed a disturbing trend of charging defendants in municipal court after Colorado passed a series of criminal justice reforms; defendants around the state now face much stiffer sentences in municipal court than they would in district court. 

Municipal courts were intended to handle the least serious offenses, such as petty theft and disturbing the peace; this now seems to be a thing of the past. Municipal court defendants now face sentences 15 to 20 times stiffer than they would receive if they were facing state charges. 

Rebecca Wallace of the ACLU told The Denver Post, “Municipal courts are able to operate in a shroud of secrecy, where violations go unnoticed and unchecked.” This unchecked power has allowed these courts to become what amount to autonomous fiefdoms lorded over by petty tyrants who are accountable to no one but themselves. 

Many of these so-called judges, such as our very own Tammy Erat, are appointed, not elected. If the people who they are supposed to serve feel that they are abusing their power, there is no democratic mechanism in place which can be used to remove them from power. Is that really liberty and justice for all?