Brittny Lewton, District Attorney, Pleads Guilty To Drug Charge
GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — A district attorney who serves a large area of northeastern Colorado pleaded guilty Monday to a drug charge stemming from an investigation by the state's attorney general.
Brittny Lewton, who serves Colorado's 13th Judicial District, struck a deal with prosecutors in the attorney general's office and pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance, unlawful conduct on public property and second-degree official misconduct. She was sentenced to two years of supervised probation.
A grand jury indicted Lewton, 41, in February on three drug counts and one count of first-degree official misconduct. She was accused of taking a bottle of prescription opioid painkiller from one of her employees and ingesting the pills at home.
"The abuse of an official position is a serious cause for concern," said Attorney General Phil Weiser, who was appointed to the case by Gov. Jared Polis. "In today's plea, Ms. Lewton takes responsibility for her actions and is held accountable for them. Significantly, she has committed to a complete course of treatment to address her struggles with opioid use disorder."
According to the biography posted on the district attorney's website, Lewton started working as an intern for the 13th Judicial District before being hired in 2005. For the next eight years, she was the lead drug and sexual assault prosecutor before being promoted to chief deputy and then to assistant district attorney.
Lewton, a Republican, was first elected district attorney in 2012. She is not on the ballot in Tuesday's election because she is term-limited.
In exchange for Lewton's guilty plea, the Attorney General's Office asked the court to dismiss the original drug and first-degree official misconduct charges.
Lewton must undergo a substance abuse evaluation, complete 48 hours of public service and take a course of treatment as a condition of probation. She also is subject to a professional misconduct review by the state Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel.
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