Opinion
Civil Action No. 09-cv-03011-CMA-KMT
10-03-2011
VICKI LYNN TRUJILLO, individually and on behalf of the Estate of Jason Gomez, Plaintiff, v. TIMOTHY CAMPBELL, individually and as a Police Officer of the City and County of Denver, GERALD R. WHITMAN, individually and in his official capacity as Chief of Police of the City and County of Denver, and CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, a municipal corporation, Defendants.
Magistrate Judge Kathleen M. Tafoya
ORDER OF RECUSAL
This matter is before the court sua sponte concerning "Plaintiff's Amended Second Motion to Compel Answers to Interrogatories from Defendant City and County of Denver" [Doc. No. 92.]
Upon review of the complete briefing on the motion submitted by the parties, the court became aware for the first time of circumstances which may provide a reasonable factual basis for calling this Magistrate Judge's impartiality on the issues involved, especially with respect to the motion now pending, into question pursuant to Title 28, U.S.C. § 455. In applying § 455(a), a judge's actual state of mind, purity of heart, incorruptibility, or lack of partiality are not the issue, but rather whether a reasonable person, knowing all the relevant facts, would harbor doubts about the judge's impartiality. United States v. Cooley, 1 F.3d 985, 993 (10th Cir.1993) (citations omitted).
Cognizant of both the duty to disqualify and the duty to sit, as well as the requisite determinations regarding these duties which must be made here, I must exercise my responsibility to recuse myself from this case.
The motions hearing set for October 4, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. is VACATED.
Dated this 3d day of October, 2011.
BY THE COURT:
Kathleen M Tafoya
United States Magistrate Judge