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Former Asst AG will enforce Colorado victim’s rights

Former ASG Assistant Attorney General, Lisa Teesch-Maguire has been appointed to enforce the rights of victims in the Aurora, Colo. theater shooting that killed 12 people including a 9-year old girl and injuring more than a dozen.

In a statement yesterday, District Attorney Carol Chambers, who is the chief law enforcement officer of the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office based in Centennial, Colo., announced Teesch-Maguire was named the case’s victims’ rights specialist and advocate.

Chambers said the office wants the very best for victims and Teesch-Maguire has spent the last 1½ years enforcing the Colorado Victims’ Rights Act in courts across Colorado, The Associated Press reports.

In November 2009, Samoa News reported that Teesch-Maguire had resigned from the local Attorney General’s office under threats to her life. Her resignation — which she made while on the mainland — came after completing a year and a half of her two year contract with the AG’s office, where she was the main prosecutor for drug and rape cases.

“I loved working in American Samoa, loved the people that I worked with, the friends that I made, and I loved working for justice for victims of crime in American Samoa,” she said at the time, and confirmed that her family in the U.S. were very concerned about her safety following reports of death threats after she successfully prosecuted a rape case.

Teesch-Maguire had also served as legal director of the Colorado based Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center — which deals with victims' rights and direct legal representation for crime victims.

Samoa News asked Teesch-Maguire - via e-mail - for reaction to her appointment to the post of victims’ right specialists for victims of the Aurora theater shooting, and to describe the focus of her work. Casimir Spencer, a spokesperson for  the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office, instead responded.

“Due to a gag order that has been imposed by the Chief Judge in this case, the District Attorney’s Office is unable to make any more comments about Ms. Teesch-Maguire’s recent appointment, said Spencer.

The alleged shooter in this case, James Holmes, appeared yesterday at a Centennial court room where formal charges were read against him, including first-degree murder for each of the 12 who died, and attempted murder for each of the 58 people who were injured in one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history, the AP reports.

During the court hearing, District Chief Judge William Sylvester barred video and still cameras from the courtroom and placed a gag order on lawyers and law enforcement —  barring them from discussing the case outside of the court room or in public.