EL PASO COUNTY — Colorado's 4th Judicial District recently lifted all COVID-19 restrictions in the El Paso County courthouse, but people involved in cases are still feeling the effects of the Pandemic.
The District Attorney's office says they were backlogged by roughly 8,000 cases at one point during the pandemic.
Now, the DA is down to roughly 2,800 cases backlogged.
"We're getting ourselves caught up. I mean, this is a jurisdiction that the District Attorney's office handles roughly 35,000 cases a year and that's from traffic to homicide," said Howard Black, Director of Communications for Colorado's 4th Judicial District.
Stephen Longo, Lawyer and Owner of the Longo Firm, says this type of backlog is unprecedented for Colorado Springs.
"Colorado... We have pretty tight standards, something we'd call, nationally, a rocket docket. Things move fast, fast, fast, so this is definitely the biggest impediment in seeing our cases move forward and go to trial that I have seen in the last ten years in Colorado."
The DA's says by mid-year they expect to be full staffed and hope it will help them tackle the case load.
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