People v. Mark Duncan Thompson. 22PDJ045. July 26, 2022.
The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved the parties’ stipulation to discipline and suspended Mark Duncan Thompson (attorney registration number 22091) for six months, all stayed pending Thompson’s successful completion of a one-year period of probation. Thompson’s sanction, which takes into account significant mitigating factors, took effect on July 26, 2022. The order approving the stipulation sanctions Thompson in his capacity as a Colorado-licensed lawyer; the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline, which maintains concurrent jurisdiction, is charged with disciplining Thompson in his capacity as a judicial officer.
Thompson’s discipline arises from his guilty plea to an amended count of disorderly conduct. The plea was based on a heated verbal confrontation with his twenty-two year-old stepson in front of and inside Thompson’s home. At one point during the confrontation, Thompson recklessly displayed a firearm, alarming his stepson. His stepson left the house and called 911. At the time of the offense, Thompson was the sitting Chief Judge for Colorado’s Fifth Judicial District. The district attorney’s office and the judges for the district recused themselves and arranged for the appointment of a special prosecutor and judge.
Following his guilty plea, Thompson was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation with standard probationary terms as well as the following special terms and conditions: he was required to remain in the anger management treatment he had been undergoing since the incident and provide a release to his current therapist and any successor or other treatment provider authorizing full disclosure of information to the special prosecutor and the court; he was required to satisfactorily complete requirements of disciplinary authorities resulting from his conviction; and he was required to timely provide to the special prosecutor and the judge proof that he had completed the probationary terms and conditions.
Through this conduct, Thompson violated Colo. RPC 8.4(b) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s fitness).
The case file is public per C.R.C.P. 242.41(a).