Carlos A. Samour, Jr.

Justice Carlos A. Samour, Jr. was appointed by Governor John Hickenlooper to the Colorado Supreme Court effective July 2, 2018. Before joining the Court, Justice Samour served for eleven and a half years as a district court judge in the 18th Judicial District—then encompassing Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln Counties. He was the Chief Jud

ge of the 18th Judicial District from July 2014 to July 2018. Prior to his appointment to the district court bench, Justice Samour worked for approximately ten years as a prosecutor in the Denver District Attorney’s Office. Before becoming a prosecutor, he practiced civil law for nearly five years at Holland & Hart. His first position after law school was a one-year judicial clerkship with the Honorable Robert H. McWilliams of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Justice Samour currently serves as Chair of the Colorado Supreme Court’s Model Criminal Jury Instructions Committee and as the Court’s liaison to the Criminal Rules Committee, the Evidence Rules Committee, the Municipal Rules Committee, and the Court Executives Committee. He is also a member of the Judicial Education Committee.

In 2015, Justice Samour received the Judicial Officer of the Year Award from the Colorado Judicial Branch and the Judicial Excellence Award from the Colorado Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (“ABOTA”). Three years later, the Arapahoe County Bar Association presented him with the Charles B. Dillon Award of Merit for Outstanding Public Service. Most recently, in February 2026, Justice Samour was honored with the St. Thomas More Award by the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Colorado.