Dan Edwards

Dan Edwards was a Senior Assistant Attorney General (retired) in the Criminal Justice Section. He received the Colorado Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Performance in 2010, 2013, and 2017 and the White Hat Award for best exemplifying the principles of the Office in 2020 for being principled, public servant, innovative, and better together. After retiring, he was asked to assist the Attorney General’s Office in the prosecution in the Elijah McClain case, a young black man who has assaulted and murdered by police and paramedics, and to assist a local prosecutors in the Barry Morphew case, a no-body homicide. He has been a public defender, including being an office head of a regional office, magistrate, and prosecutor. Since being admitted to practice in 1977, he has tried over 300 cases including 62 murders: most notably he was one of the prosecutor on the James Holmes, Aurora Theater shooting, where 12 people were murdered and 70 injured. In addition to being a litigator, he is also an adjunct professor at the University of Denver College of Law where he has taught over 200 courses in evidence, trial practice, criminal procedure and related courses. In the last 10 years, he has given over 175 trainings to prosecutors and law enforcement throughout Colorado. In 2021, he received the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council (CDAC) Sustained Excellence Award for prolonged outstanding service as a litigator and educator. He received Faculty of the Year honors from NAGTRI in 2017 and from CDAC in 2013. He has recently published in the NAAG Journal: “Jury Selection and Bull: Tips From The TV Program and Observations of a Practitioner;” and “The Evolving Debate Over Batson’s Procedures for Peremptory Challenges.” He also writes and updates for the Colorado Trial Evidence Manual for CDAC on character, opinion, hearsay, and confrontation. Early in his career as a public defender he was named the Colorado State Public Defender of the Year in 1985.