ENDORSEMENT: George Brauchler for DA in the 23rd

Most prosecutors toil in obscurity. That’s a good thing, of course, because it means a community hasn’t been battered by the kinds of sensational, headline-making crimes that land a prosecutor in the limelight.

When grim fate does come calling — and epic-scale tragedy strikes — the public needs someone on the job who has the seasoning, smarts and sheer determination to see that those responsible face justice. Someone who achieves prominence not of his own choosing but because heinous acts happened on his watch, and he stepped up to the challenge.

George Brauchler is that rare veteran prosecutor who not only rises to such a standard but in fact exceeds it with a truly extraordinary resumé. His formidable experience prosecuting some of the state’s most notorious criminal cases has established him as a legal luminary in the world of criminal justice and, at times, as a household name among the Colorado public. His distinguished years of service as the 18th Judicial District attorney, covering a broad swath of the Denver metro area, cemented his reputation as a champion of law and order.

It’s why The Gazette’s editorial board enthusiastically endorses George Brauchler as he seeks to serve once again as an elected district attorney — this time, as the first-ever DA of the newly created 23rd Judicial District.

The Republican Brauchler — who must vie for the post in the June 25 GOP primary prior to November’s general election — brings unprecedented talent, skill, experience and insight to the 23rd’s citizens and its justice system. He also offers the heavily Republican district his well-established conservative values, which, since leaving his last elected office, he has enunciated regularly on local talk radio and in his column for The Gazette and Colorado Politics.

Brauchler and his family haven’t moved; they live where they did when he served as DA for the 18th Judicial District. But the four-county 18th is the state’s largest, so the Legislature split it, carving out Brauchler’s Douglas County, along with Elbert and Lincoln counties, to form the 23rd effective next January. (Only Arapahoe County will remain in the 18th.)

While Brauchler’s impressive accomplishments in the justice system are singularly admirable, they are hard to envy given the tragic circumstances surrounding them — Colorado’s tortured history of mass killings.

As a deputy DA, Brauchler prosecuted the only felony charges to emerge from the Columbine High School shootings, considering both of the perpetrators had killed themselves. His cases involved people who had supplied guns to the shooters.

In 2015, by then the DA in the 18th, Brauchler led the prosecution of James Holmes, who carried out the horrific Aurora theater shootings. Holmes had opened fire on a movie audience, killing 12 and wounding 58. Brauchler obtained 12 life sentences for Holmes in addition to other penalties for the mass violence.

A Colorado native who grew up in Lakewood, Brauchler also is a colonel in the Colorado Army National Guard and has an extensive background in the military justice system. He has been a military prosecutor and defense attorney and has served as chief of military justice for Colorado’s Fort Carson, the 4th Infantry Division, and the U.S. Division North in Tikrit, Iraq.

In other words, Brauchler would make an exceptional DA for the newly minted 23rd Judicial District. Its voters would do well to make that happen.