One of the top prosecutors in the now-dismissed Barry Morphew murder trial said in a new court filing that he failed to speak up when he saw that his boss planned to look into domestic abuse allegations against the presiding judge in the case.

Mark Hurlbert submitted the filing on Tuesday with the state agency in charge of disciplining lawyers. 

The filing was a response to recent requests for investigations of misconduct made against Hurlbert, accusing him and two other members of the Morphew prosecution team of going after former 11th Judicial District Judge Ramsey Lama based on a Change.org petition started by a YouTuber.

Hurlbert told the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel that he “did not voice disapproval of DA Stanley’s plan to have an investigator interview Iris Lama because he felt that Judge Lama was biased against him.” 

The OARC is an independent arm of the Colorado Supreme Court.

Iris Lama, now Iris Diaz, agreed to be interviewed by a Fremont County DA investigator on April 15, 2022 and denied that there was any domestic abuse during her marriage to Ramsey Lama. The domestic violence issue was dropped by the Morphew team and Diaz did not file a grievance about the interview. 

Nine days before trial was to begin, at a pre-trial readiness conference on April 19, 2022, Lama, the judge, granted the prosecution’s request to dismiss the case without prejudice and Barry Morphew walked out of the courthouse a free man. 

Dismissed without prejudice means that the case is finished, but it can be refiled at any point. Though the case is officially classified as having gone cold, Suzanne Morphew’s remains were found last fall in a field in Moffat about 45 minutes from the family home.

To date, the results of her autopsy report have not been made public and the family has not been notified as to the results, according to Suzanne Morphew’s sister, Melinda Moorman Balzer. 

Hurlbert was brought into the case in July 2021, a month before the preliminary hearing. Attorney Bob Weiner was brought into the case in November 2021 to help out in the months leading up to the trial. 

A month before Lama dismissed the high-profile Morphew case, the three top prosecutors discussed the possibility that he should recuse himself based on a theory presented by 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley. 

March 12,  2022 Stanley suggested in a text chain that the team interview Lama’s ex-wife to find out if he abused her. During the conversation between Stanley, Hurlbert and Weiner, she asked them to read a change.org petition started by a YouTuber named Julez Wolf, who suggested that Lama be taken off of the case because his ex-wife was an advocate for victims of domestic abuse, which could represent a conflict of interest. 

Prosecutors theorized in court that Suzanne Morphew was a victim of domestic abuse.

“You guys might want to read this,” Stanley texted.  

Hurlbert responded, “That is very interesting. I was thinking about a motion to recuse.” He later texted that Lama was “obviously biased.” 

“Holy crap! Yes, let’s go after him! He should have disclosed this,” responded Bob Weiner. 

Weiner’s behavior is also under investigation with the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. 

In his response, obtained by The Denver Gazette, Weiner admitted to participating in the March 12, 2022 text message chain, explaining that the texts “speak for themselves,” but added he felt that potentially interviewing Iris Lama was appropriate.

He denied having anything to do with the actual interview, which was done by Chief DA Investigator Andrew Corey, saying, “Respondent denies he communicated with Mr. Corey in any fashion related to any interview of Ms. Lama conducted by Mr. Corey. “ 

Both complaints against Hurlbert and Weiner were made by Morphew’s defense attorney, Iris Eytan. The attempt to have Lama recused was not Eytan’s only issue. In her complaints, she alleged the the two prosecutors also failed to turn over evidence of Morphew’s innocence, misstated facts in court pleadings and violated court orders.

Hurlbert and Weiner denied those claims.

It’s now up to the presiding disciplinary judge to set separate hearing dates for Hurlbert and Weiner. 

Hurlbert remains a Deputy District Attorney on contract with the 11th Judicial District and Weiner does most civil defense work for Denver law firm Hall and Evans.

The agency filed a complaint in October against Stanley. Her nine-day hearing starts on June 11 and will see witnesses, testimony and exhibits.

What is different from a regular trial is “instead of being heard by a judge, three individuals will hear the case,” according to Office of Regulation Counsel Jessica Yates. 

The presiding disciplinary judge and the hearing board together make findings of fact, and the presiding judge makes all legal rulings. Punishments could range from disbarment, to censure, or the panel could dismiss the original complaints. 

Yates told The Denver Gazette that nine days is longer than a typical disciplinary hearing.