Larimer County DUI Court Process

The Eighth Judicial District, covering Larimer and Jackson counties, processes over 20,000 county court cases a year out of the Larimer County Justice Center in Fort Collins. Misdemeanor DUI and traffic matters stay in County Court; felony DUI and vehicular assault cases move to District Court. Judge Matthew Zehe, on the County Court bench since 2022 after serving as a magistrate from 2006, has a particular distinction worth knowing: he helped launch the district's DUI Recovery Court back in 2008 and has presided over it ever since, bringing a strengths-based, rehabilitation-first approach to the bench. Judge Joshua Lehman, a former Deputy District Attorney appointed in 2014, handles a significant share of the standard DUI docket with the trial experience that background implies. Judge Kraig Ecton has sat on the County Court bench since the same year.

That DUI Recovery Court, DUIRC for short, is genuinely unusual nationally — Colorado's first accredited program of its kind, and now one of only six "academy courts" recognized by the National Center for DWI Courts. It's not an option for a first offense; eligibility requires high-risk, high-need adults typically carrying three or four prior convictions, often at felony level. The program runs a minimum of 18 months, though graduation frequently takes longer, and it's genuinely abstinence-only — no alcohol, no cannabinoids, no opioids, stimulants, hallucinogens, or even over-the-counter medication taken for a psychoactive effect. Compliance monitoring happens at least twice a week across all five phases. Participants complete "Level II Four Plus" treatment, a minimum of 180 therapy hours over 18 months addressing cognitive function, trauma, and co-occurring mental health conditions, plus a mandatory "After-Court Group" session immediately following every docket appearance specifically to build peer support among fellow DUIRC participants, on top of weekly outside meetings like AA. Judge Zehe reviews participants biweekly during the early phases, tapering to monthly in the final transition phase. Program decisions get made democratically in weekly staffing meetings where probation, the DA's office, the public defender, and treatment providers each cast a vote — with the judge voting last. Despite how demanding all of that is, the graduation rate sits at 80.6%.

For anyone just appearing for a standard hearing, the Justice Center has one public entrance on the southwest corner facing Civic Center Park, and the court itself advises budgeting a full 30 minutes to clear security. Parking across the street at the Civic Center Parking Structure comes with no validation offered — a real, recurring out-of-pocket cost for anyone with multiple hearings ahead of them. Electronic devices have to be fully off or muted inside a courtroom, silent or on vibrate in the hallways, and recording or photographing anything anywhere in the building is banned without the judge's explicit permission. Dress rules ban hats, sunglasses, tank tops, and anything carrying gang, obscene, or drug-and-alcohol imagery — a standard that extends into Larimer County Community Corrections facilities too, where many repeat offenders serve work-release time and where even non-prescription powders or alcohol-containing oral hygiene products can trigger disciplinary action under the facility's formal BSMART system.

The Level II Four Plus treatment DUIRC requires, along with standard Level II education for anyone sentenced outside the program, runs through a dominant local counseling agency with offices in both Fort Collins and Loveland that works in close coordination with the courts, probation, and the DMV — including help securing the "Affidavit of Enrollment" needed for early interlock-based reinstatement. They accept Medicaid and offer sliding-scale fees based on federal poverty guidelines.

Sources

• Colorado Judicial Branch — Eighth Judicial District DUI Recovery Court Earns Academy Court Status
• Colorado Judicial Branch — Larimer County Justice Center
• All Rise — 8th Judicial District DUI Recovery Court Policies and Procedures