AURORA, Colo. — The City of Aurora and Arapahoe County are locking horns over who should prosecute domestic violence cases.

Both sides say they want justice for domestic violence victims and their families, yet both claim they have no money to pay to prosecute those cases.

There is certainly no argument about the seriousness of domestic violence cases.

“We’re very conscious of victims,” said Pete Schulte, Aurora city attorney.

“It’s not only scary to the victims, it’s scary to us,” said Leslie Summey, chair of the Arapahoe County Commissioners.

There is, however, a growing feud in Aurora and Arapahoe County about which jurisdiction should be responsible for prosecuting those cases.

“There are only three cities in Colorado – Westminster, Lakewood, and us – that actually hear domestic violence cases in our municipal courts. And generally, all the other cities, there’s 100-some-odd cities in Colorado, all the rest of them file domestic violence cases in their county courts with their DA’s office,” Schulte said.

Aurora has handled domestic violence cases at the city level for nearly three decades because it had the funding to do so, according to Schulte.

But now, the city is facing an $11 million budget shortfall in 2026, and handing these cases back to the county just makes the most financial sense.

“The city council started to look to see if there was something we could do to try to save some money,” Schulte said.

But on the county side, there are different opinions about who should handle these cases.

“That is quite a question,” Summey said.

Summey said the county asked state lawmakers to fund another county judge to process domestic violence cases, but the legislature denied the county’s funding request.

“It puts us in a very difficult position,” Summey said. “All of our authority comes from the state. We were a little surprised that we didn’t get a new county court judge.”

Now, the concern is the influx of cases coming from Aurora could cause a huge backlog in the 18th Judicial District courts.

“And we could very easily end up having to dismiss cases because they’re not able to get a speedy trial,” Summey said.

The City of Aurora is calling the county’s bluff on that.

“I think that is an idle threat that they’re making against the City of Aurora,” Schulte said. “But everyone’s facing a budget shortfall, so everyone is going to have to make do. Those would be the last cases that I, as a prosecutor, would dismiss.”

Aurora already delayed moving the cases back to the county once before and says July 1, 2025, is now the date that all future cases will be sent to the county and the 18th Judicial District.

“They aren’t going to have 1,200 cases that are going to get transferred to Arapahoe County on July 1,” Schulte said. “The Aurora Municipal Court is still going to handle all the cases that have been filed up until 11:59 p.m. on June 30. So, it will take several months for there to be a heavy caseload.”

Arapahoe County insists it’s going to be a problem.

“We can’t do the job without a new judge,” Summey said. “And I want to be clear: Arapahoe County is unified in what it believes to be the best way forward.”

But Aurora says it’s time.

“We’re just trying to be treated like every other city in the state when it comes to domestic violence cases,” Schulte said. “For us to be kind of shamed, so to speak, that we’re not going to hear these cases is just not fair. There are over 160 municipalities in this state, why are we getting singled out when we’re not required to handle these cases to begin with?”

Arapahoe County is requesting that Aurora delay moving cases to the 18th Judicial District until July 1, 2026, to give the county more time to find funding for a new judge. But as of now, Aurora is moving forward as planned to move the cases this coming July.

Colorado law states county courts, not city courts, should handle misdemeanor domestic violence cases.

However, in 1984, Aurora chose to take misdemeanor cases because it felt it could devote more time and energy to protecting victims.

All felony cases are handled by the state district courts.

Cities that choose to prosecute their own cases must charge the same rates and fines as the counties.

Part of Aurora also sits in Adams County.

The Adams County district attorney has a much different perspective.

He says Aurora gave adequate notice, and his team of nearly 100 prosecutors is ready to take on these cases.

Aurora and Arapahoe County continue to lock horns over domestic violence cases