People v. Holden Chadwick. 23PDJ072. June 7, 2024.
The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved the parties’ stipulation to discipline and suspended Holden Chadwick (attorney registration number 56334) for three years, effective June 7, 2024.
In December 2023, Chadwick was convicted in Mesa County District Court of first degree official misconduct, a class-one misdemeanor; two counts of attempting to influence a public servant, a class-four felony; and false reporting to authorities, a class-two misdemeanor. The 7 th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, acting as a special prosecutor appointed by the court, brought the charges against Chadwick. Chadwick was sentenced to ninety days of jail, all suspended on Chadwick’s successful completion of a three-year period of probation with conditions including a mental health evaluation, public service, completion of continuing legal education courses, and a $2,000.00 donation to a non-profit organization.
Chadwick’s conviction was predicated on his conduct in 2023, when Chadwick worked as a prosecutor in the 21 st Judicial District Attorney’s Office. That January, Chadwick contacted the Boulder District Attorney’s Office from his official email account and asked if that office was investigating an individual, Chadwick’s personal friend, who had sought Chadwick’s help in determining whether he was being investigated in relation to sexual assault allegations. In his email, Chadwick misrepresented that the individual was a potential witness and victim in one of Chadwick’s cases. Chadwick made a similar inquiry and misrepresentation to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. In his communications, Chadwick requested confidential law enforcement information concerning open investigations into the individual. When an investigator for the 21 st Judicial District Attorney’s Office’s approached Chadwick about the inquiries, Chadwick misrepresented that the individual was a possible witness in a hit-and-run case and that the defense attorney in the case had identified the individual as a possible defense witness.
Chadwick ultimately informed the individual that neither agency had a current investigation into him and advised him, “[i]f anyone asks you’re the potential witness/victim in my case.”
Through this conduct, Chadwick 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 honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects) and Colo. RPC 8.4(c) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation).
The case file is public per C.R.C.P. 242.41(a).