I tend only to publish stories that have local relevance, but I do make exceptions when news has an impact, although indirectly, on this region. Such stories and the lessons learned require a wider view (the name of the column) to be understood locally. The news from Alamosa on June 20 was that Barry Morphew had been arrested and charged again for the alleged murder of his wife, Suzanne, in Salida on Mother’s Day, May 10, 2020. What is of note in this new arrest is that despite years of degradation of the Justice System in the 11th Judicial District, thanks to the incompetence of the former District Attorney, Linda Stanley, the justice system has proven extremely robust.
An old saying from the investor Warren Buffett has always stood out to me: “I want to invest in a company that is so good that even an idiot can run it, because eventually, one will.” What Buffett was pointing out is that the overall robustness of an organization was more important than any considerations of who was leading. We can make an analogy with our community and government institutions. Our institutions, particularly the legal one, has been evolving since the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England, which started the Common Law legal system that is the foundation here in Colorado. That means the legal institution has been steadily improving for at least 337 years, and some historians would argue it has been in place for at least 500 years.
Of course, there is no such thing as steady improvement without setbacks. Our legal system was, and is still far from, perfect as it mostly applied to men, leaving women completely at its mercy for the last half a millennium. But that is the nature of a complex system; it takes inputs and evolves over time. And thankfully, it has become remarkably robust.
The 11th Judicial District and the neighboring 12th Judicial District have been put to the test over the last decade. While I have chronicled the rise and fall of Linda Stanley in the 11th, the people of San Luis Valley had their own District Attorney troubles in the form of Alonzo Payne, who resigned in 2022 after it became clear he was going to be recalled plus the Colorado Attorney General’s Office was investigating his actions.
Payne was the mirror image of Stanley. While Stanley used the MAGA platform to get elected, Payne used the “Defund the Police” messaging to secure an election. What became clear is that when stripped of the political messaging that got both elected, both attorneys were clueless about being prosecutors. Payne tried to explain himself as he resigned, “It is apparent to me that the elite of the San Luis Valley and the judicial activists amongst us do not want to see criminal justice reform enacted. I hope they soon realize that incarcerating the poor and underprivileged is not the solution to address the overarching poverty and substance abuse issues that are rampant in the San Luis Valley and statewide.”
Of course, this appeal to the political causes that got him elected fell on deaf ears as the Colorado Attorney General’s Office investigated and found that his office was completely incompetent. According to the report released the day Payne resigned, “Payne’s office routinely failed to communicate with victims, consult with them about plea deals or case dismissals, or treat them with respect and dignity.” Further, “because the district attorney’s office failed to allow victims’ input and consultation during the justice process as required by law, those victims lost the chance to contribute to just outcomes in their cases. In some instances, the office may even have placed victims’ safety at risk.”
When setting aside the national political masks that Payne and Stanley used, what was revealed underneath was incompetent idiots. Few realize that stupidity (I am not talking about IQ) presents the most danger to a group or society, not the criminal or evil. In his masterpiece and very short book, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, originally published in 1976, the Italian economist Carlo M. Cipolla convincingly argued that people who unintentionally harm others and themselves for no personal gain are the most detrimental to society. Worse, we underestimate how many stupid people are around us and always underestimate their damage. Race, sex, IQ, wealth, or any other measure has nothing to do with being a stupid person; it is just a random draw of nature and society. And Cipolla is also clear, you can never train stupidity out of the system, as even very educated persons can act in a stupid manner.
So, if we cannot rid the world of stupidity, what can be done? Well, you can focus on the Buffett maxim that started this essay, make the institution as robust as possible, knowing full well that eventually, stupid people will run it and try to blow it up for no rational reasons.
Since 2020, I have seen the justice system come under extreme strain in the 11th and the 12th Judicial Districts. What is remarkable about both districts is how the justice system is learning and recovering. Just a mere three years after Payne resigned from the 12th, the new District Attorney, Anne Kelly, is a seasoned prosecutor. Picking up the pieces of the botched investigation into Barry Morphew that brought down the fall of Linda Stanley, Kelly worked in a careful and detailed manner, convening a grand jury and making sure that the evidence against Barry Morphew was extremely robust before arresting and charging him a second time (the case is now in the 12th instead of the 11th because Suzanne Morphew’s remains were discovered in the San Luis Valley, giving the 12th jurisdiction over the investigation). The new District Attorney for the 11th, Jeff Lindsey, has similarly been able to swiftly rebuild the district despite the mess created by Stanley.
And even more important is the fact that it was the entire judicial system, which included dozens of judges, justice departments, attorneys, and even the Colorado Supreme Court, that was able to evaluate the actions of two District Attorneys that had gained power and vet their actions, eventually finding them too dangerous to the prosicution of justice to keep leading. Both were also disbarred and prevented from corrupting the justice system in the future.
Communities need to continually monitor and invest in their institutions over generations. Constantly tinkering to improve them. Because the only bulwark we have to protect ourselves comes from robust systems that even an idiot can run, but fail to destroy it.
Jordan Hedberg
