FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Karen Salaz s1

news Colorado Judicial Branch Mary J. Mullarkey, Chief Justice Gerald Marroney, State Court Administrator

______Sept. 25, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Karen Salaz 303/837-3633 1-800-888-0001 Ext. 633

Judge Chris Melonakis named Outstanding Judicial Officer Seventeenth Judicial District judge receives Judicial Branch award

The Outstanding Judicial Officer in the Colorado Judicial Branch is District Judge Chris

Melonakis of the Seventeenth Judicial District.* The Colorado Judicial Branch annually recognizes a handful of outstanding employees for exemplary work contributing to the high quality of service provided throughout the state’s 22 judicial districts.

Melonakis was nominated for the award by Julie Richer, a court reporter in the

Seventeenth Judicial District. “Judge Melonakis excels in public service,” Richer says. “He helped form the Integrated Family Drug Court to combat drug addiction among mothers of young children. The program provides counseling, job training, day care and transportation to help mothers overcome addiction and reunite with their children.”

Melonakis also spearheaded an initiative in the Seventeenth Judicial District to prevent and treat fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Each year 40,000 children are born with the effects of alcohol consumption by their mothers at a cost of $4 billion, according to Richer. The program led by Melonakis seeks to prevent juvenile delinquency and promote rehabilitative services and public safety.

Melonakis also started a Family Court Pilot Program to study the results when multiple cases involving one family are handled by the same court. An evaluation of 27 Family Court cases and 28 cases that were not part of the pilot program indicates that the program better responds to families’ needs and reduces by half the length of time children spend in placement outside their homes.

“He also oversees people working in the Truancy Reduction Program, works closely with the CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) organization and on Colorado’s court improvement committee,” Richer notes.

The Colorado Judicial Branch includes the state’s county and district courts, Court of

Appeals and Supreme Court. A total of 3,139** judicial employees including 275 judges and justices work to resolve cases in a fair, timely manner and ensure that probationers are supervised appropriately. In Fiscal Year 2006, which ended June 30, 2006, 556,136 cases were filed statewide at the county court level and 189,415 cases were filed in district court, 1,109 in the state water courts, 2,748 in the Court of Appeals and 1,393 in the Supreme Court. The number of total active adult probation cases was more than 40,000 at the end of Fiscal Year 2006 and there were 7,870 active juvenile probation cases.

* The Seventeenth Judicial District comprises Adams County and the City and County of Broomfield.

** This is the total Full Time Equivalent (FTE) allocated in the Judicial Branch. One FTE in some cases is divided between two or more people. This information is provided as an e-mail service of the Colorado State Judicial Branch, Office of State Court Administrator, 1301 Pennsylvania Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colo. 80203. To discontinue this service or update your e-mail address, please respond to this message with your name, contact information and any comments.