Colorado lawyer Denise Kay was suspended by an attorney disciplinary board after she was arrested three times in 18 months for DUI. (Sheridan police via KCNC/YouTube)
A Colorado disciplinary board recently suspended an attorney’s law license for six months after she pleaded guilty to her third DUI charge in 18 months — and she reportedly showed up drunk to her sentencing.
The Colorado Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel imposed the suspension as attorney Denise Kay sits in a Arapahoe County Jail. Following the suspension she’ll be put on probation for three years.
According to findings from the counsel, Kay’s trouble’s began in March 2022 when she backed into a parked car. Cops noted her eyes were bloodshot and watery and her blood alcohol content measured 0.298 — nearly four times the legal limit to drive of 0.08. In October 2022 she pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and a judge sentenced her to a year of probation with a three-month jail sentence suspended if she were to complete probation.
However, Kay “struggled to comply,” the counsel noted.
“She reported to probation several times while under the influence of alcohol,” the counsel said. “While on probation, she was stopped by police in August 2023, as they suspected she was driving under the influence. She was instructed to pull into a nearby parking lot; she struck the patrol car while backing up.”
Denver CBS affiliate KCNC obtained body camera footage from Sheridan police of the arrest.
“You know you just backed into me,” the cop said to Kay.
“I did, I did,” she responded.
“So you always back into police officers?” the officer cracked.
Cops arrested her on the second DUI charge and put her in jail. KCNC, citing court documents, reported that Kay had ignored a judge’s order to drive a car fitted with a device that would allow the vehicle to start only when she blew alcohol-free breath into the it. She apparently was driving a car that did not have the device.
Then about three weeks later and just a couple hours after her court appearance she was again pulled over by cops and arrested for drunken driving, according to the counsel’s report. This time her BAC registered a 0.297.
Kay was set to enter a plea to the three cases in January. But the judge rejected the plea deal, reportedly expressing “grave concern” about the attorney’s conduct. The judge called a brief recess and when Kay returned she appeared to be intoxicated, the report said. The judge ordered Kay to take a breath test and her BAC was .324 — over four times the legal limit. The judge held Kay in contempt and threw her in jail for three days, according to the counsel.
Finally, Kay pleaded guilty in February to DUI as a second and third offense. A judge sentenced her to a year in jail with 43 days credit for time served. She’s allowed to leave jail for work. She also must attend alcohol treatment classes and a victim impact panel through Mothers Against Drunk Driving. After her release from jail, she’ll be on probation for two years.
“I’m not proud of any of this and embarrassed by all of it,” Kay told KCNC.
She acknowledged she had an addiction to alcohol and promised to work on it for the rest of her life.
“I am so thankful and pray every day that I haven’t hurt anybody, and that’s what’s getting me through this,” she said.
The attorney regulation counsel determined she violated several codes of conduct including knowingly disobeying an obligation under the rules of a tribunal, committing a criminal act that “reflects adversely” to a lawyer’s honestly or trustworthiness and engaged in acts “prejudicial to the administration of justice.”
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