Former Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett (‘82) is the latest inductee to the Bolivian Academy of Judicial Sciences, an exclusive group of distinguished lawyers and judges.
He was accepted Feb. 20 after orally presenting in Spanish his thesis comparing the justice systems in the U.S. and Latin America.
His thesis describes four characteristics of the U.S. justice system that protect it from the high level of corruption and impunity found in the Latin American justice system: a higher level of education and training of police; greater protection of the rights of the accused; the exclusionary rule that requires the suppression of evidence obtained in violation of a defendant’s rights; and a deeply rooted tradition of transparency and requirement of live testimony due to the Sixth Amendment guarantee of the right to confrontation, resulting in the right for the public to observe and attend the judicial process. All of these factors make it much more difficult to corrupt a case, Garnett said.
To illustrate how these safeguards built into the American justice system protect it from the forms of corruption seen in Latin American justice systems, Garnett described a murder case he tried while serving as Boulder district attorney.
Following the presentation, he fielded questions from leading Bolivian lawyers and judges, including several judges of the Bolivian appellate courts, law professors, the former attorney general of Bolivia, and dignitaries from the U.S. embassy.
“Stan Garnett is a fine example of the many ways in which our graduates apply their Colorado Law education to make global impacts,” observed Dean S. James Anaya. “Stan’s induction into the Bolivian Academy of Judicial Sciences is an outstanding accomplishment and a great honor. As our international programs grow, graduates like Stan provide not only inspiration to our students, but also real-world connections that can lead to opportunities at home and abroad.”
Colorado Law’s recently reestablished LLM degree and its new Master of Studies in Law in Human Rights program will each welcome their first class in fall 2018.
In his role as fellow, Garnett will consult and share best practices with government officials in Latin America on ways to discourage corruption in its judicial system.
In January, Garnett announced his resignation from the Boulder District Attorney’s Office after nearly ten years as district attorney. He returned to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP as a shareholder, rejoining the litigation department where he spent 22 years as a trial lawyer specializing in complex litigation at the state and federal levels.