Weld County District Court

Weld County District Court Overview

Colorado runs a unified state judicial branch with 23 judicial districts. Weld County stands alone as the 19th Judicial District. The Colorado Judicial Branch's organization page states the branch has more than 300 judges, 3,500 support staff, 23 judicial districts, and 64 Clerks of Court. The Weld County District Court sits inside this structure as a court of general jurisdiction.

The District Court works alongside the Weld County Court at the same buildings under the same Judicial Branch umbrella. District Court is the trial court for serious matters. County Court is the trial court for limited matters. The Clerk of Court at the Centennial Center handles records for both. Appeals from the Weld County District Court generally run to the Colorado Court of Appeals, and from there to the Colorado Supreme Court. The 19th Judicial District covers only Weld County, so District Attorney and Public Defender boundaries match the county lines exactly.

What the Weld County District Court Hears

District Court jurisdiction in Colorado is broad. The official Colorado trial-courts overview sets out the basic split between district and county courts. The District Court handles every case type that exceeds County Court jurisdiction or that statute assigns to general jurisdiction.

The list is wide. The Weld County District Court hears felony criminal cases (case class CR), civil cases at any amount (CV), domestic relations and divorce cases (DR), probate cases (PR), juvenile cases (JV, JD), mental health proceedings, and water court matters (CW) for Water Division 1. Each docket has its own scheduling rules. Probate and water court phones run separately at the courthouse. Domestic relations and felony filings move through the main Clerk window at the Centennial Center. The court records page covers the docket search across all these classes.

Weld County District Court vs County Court

Both the District Court and the County Court are trial courts under the 19th Judicial District. They share buildings and clerk staff. Their jurisdiction is different. The comparison below tracks the official Colorado Judicial Branch description.

Felony complaints sometimes begin in County Court for first appearance, then bind over to District Court for trial. Misdemeanors stay in County Court. Small claims, civil under $25,000, evictions (FED), and minor traffic stay in County Court. Anyone unsure about which court holds a file can call the records line at (970) 475-2400.

How a Case Moves Through the System

Cases in Weld County follow Colorado's appellate ladder. The trial court hears the case first. Appeals run up the chain. The path below covers both county-level entry points and the District Court itself.

Case path: Municipal or Weld County Court › Weld County District Court › Colorado Court of Appeals › Colorado Supreme Court

On the criminal side, a felony case enters with arrest or summons, runs through advisement and preliminary handling in County Court, binds over to District Court, and proceeds through arraignment, motions, trial, sentencing, and any appeal. A misdemeanor case starts and ends in County Court unless it is bound over for a related felony.

On the civil side, a District Court matter starts with a petition or complaint, proceeds through answer, discovery, motions, mediation, and trial or summary judgment, then any appeal. Domestic relations cases follow a similar shape, with disclosures, status conferences, and either an uncontested decree or a permanent orders hearing. Water Court cases follow specialized procedures laid out in Colorado water law. The Weld court dockets page covers hearing-calendar visibility for each step.

Weld County District Court Address and Hours

Weld's state trial-court facilities concentrate in three downtown Greeley buildings. The court page lists three related buildings under the 19th Judicial District. The historic Weld County Courthouse holds the courtroom and the probate and water court phones. The Centennial Center holds the clerk window, records counter, and Court Information Center. Plaza West handles transcript orders.

Building hours run Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Centennial Center Clerk's Office window closes at 4:00 p.m. sharp. The Clerk's Office opens at 8:00 a.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month. The court does not accept email or fax pleadings. ADA, accessibility, and interpreter request links are on the Judicial Branch Weld page.

Specialty Programs and Water Court

The 19th Judicial District runs problem-solving courts inside the District Court structure. Older Judicial Branch materials identify the 19th Judicial Adult Treatment Court and 19th Judicial DUI Court. The court has also issued Administrative Order 2024-01 concerning the Drug Offender Treatment Board, filed January 11, 2024, with the District Court address at 901 9th Avenue. The board supports drug-offender treatment decisions and coordination across criminal-justice stakeholders, including the Chief Probation Officer.

Water Court is the other specialty docket housed at the Weld County Courthouse. Weld sits in Water Division 1. Water Court hears determination of water rights, water use, water administration, and other water matters. The Water Court phone is (970) 475-2507. The docket search case class CW covers civil water cases. The Judicial Branch Weld page also links Bond Hearing Virtual Courtroom and Division Virtual Courtrooms. Live streams are view-only under CJD 23-02; recording is prohibited.

Weld County Judges and Divisions

Docket results show active Weld courtrooms and divisions, including courtrooms 2, 5, 6, 15, 16, B, and CIC. A complete current judge and division roster is published on the Colorado Judicial Branch Weld County page rather than republished here. For the latest assignments, the official Weld County trial court page links to Judges and Staff, Chief Judge Orders and Directives, Division Virtual Courtrooms, and the Bond Hearing Schedule.

Each division handles a mix of criminal and civil matters under chief judge assignment. Civil, family, and criminal divisions share judges as needed. The Court Information Center can confirm the courtroom for a specific case if the case number is known. The Clerk of Court provides docket entries through the state docket tool. For records pulled across divisions, the Clerk of Court page covers the request workflow.

Appeals to the Colorado Court of Appeals

Appeals from the Weld County District Court generally go to the Colorado Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals is the state's intermediate appellate court for most decisions from district courts, the Denver Probate Court, and the Denver Juvenile Court. Some matters route directly to the Colorado Supreme Court, the state's court of last resort, especially when the case involves a constitutional question or a death penalty issue. County Court decisions in Weld appeal to the District Court first, not the Court of Appeals.

Appellate procedure follows the Colorado Appellate Rules. A notice of appeal must be filed within the statutory window after the trial court's final order. Records on appeal include the trial-court file, the transcript, and the briefs. Transcript orders go through Plaza West using the transcripts line. Certified copies of trial-court orders come from the Weld County Clerk of Court. The court records page covers certified copy ordering for appellate use.

Weld County District Attorney

The Weld County District Attorney represents the people of the State of Colorado in all state criminal actions brought within the 19th Judicial District. The boundaries match Weld County exactly. The current District Attorney is Michael J. Rourke. The official term on the elected-official page runs from 1/13/25 to 1/9/29. Office phone is (970) 400-4750. Email is weldda@weld.gov. Mailing materials list 915 10th Street and P.O. Box 1167, Greeley, CO 80632.

Rourke was appointed by Governor John Hickenlooper in December 2014 after Ken Buck was elected to Congress. Before his appointment he prosecuted in the 18th and 19th Judicial Districts, handling first-degree murder, sexual assault, sexual assault on children, and crimes of violence cases. The full elected-official record is on the Weld County DA page. The office prosecutes both felony and misdemeanor charges through several divisions designed around case type and victim need.

Public Defender for the 19th Judicial District

The Colorado State Public Defender Greeley Office represents eligible indigent defendants in criminal cases that sit in Weld County. The office is at 710 11th Ave Ste 100, Greeley, CO 80631. Phone is (970) 353-8224. Fax is (970) 352-8293. Email is Greeley@coloradodefenders.us. The official Greeley public defender page identifies Office Head Michele Newell, Office Manager Elena Sanchez, and Investigator Contact Jim Glass.

Public defender services are not the same as private counsel. Eligibility is handled through state public defender application rules and a financial screening. Court-appointed counsel for conflicts of interest comes through a separate process. The Weld County Attorney page also lists Colorado Legal Services for civil matters at (970) 310-8367 and the Weld County Bar Association for pro bono and lawyer-referral support. The criminal records page covers what appears on the public side of a Weld District Court criminal file.

Federal Cases and Adjacent Courts

Federal trial matters do not appear on the Colorado Judicial Branch docket search. Weld County sits within the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado at cod.uscourts.gov. Federal criminal prosecutions, federal-question civil cases, diversity cases, and federal habeas petitions route to the District of Colorado. Bankruptcy matters route to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado in Denver. Appeals from Colorado federal trial courts go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

PACER is the federal records system. Public users register and pay per-page fees, subject to federal fee rules and exemptions. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado handles federal prosecutions. The U.S. Marshals Service District of Colorado handles federal prisoner transport, courthouse security, and fugitive operations. The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator covers federal inmates from 1982 to present. For more on federal adjuncts and the records routing, see the court records page.

No-Recording Policy in Weld County Courtrooms

Recording or reproducing Weld County District Court proceedings is prohibited without express prior written court authorization. The Weld Judicial Branch page cites C.R.S. § 13-1-132 and Chief Justice Directive 23-02. Unauthorized audio recording, visual recording, screen capture, or photograph of proceedings may subject a person to contempt of court, including a fine, jail, or both. Public livestreams are view-only. Users cannot participate, screenshot, or record through the livestream link.

This rule covers every courtroom in the Centennial Center, the historic courthouse, and Plaza West. The only authorized record of a hearing is the court reporter's official transcript, ordered through the transcripts line at (970) 475-2400 or 19Transcripts@judicial.state.co.us. For docket-day information without a courtroom visit, the docket search at coloradojudicial.gov provides hearing date, time, courtroom, and appearance type. The court dockets page walks through that tool.

Related Weld County Resources

For records requests and certified copies from any District Court division, see the Weld County Clerk of Court page. For the docket tool and full court file workflow, see court records. For hearing-calendar searches, see court dockets. For criminal case visibility and sealing, see criminal records. For divorce filings and decrees, see marriage and divorce records.