{{Short description|American judge (born 1966 or 1967)}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Carlos Samour |office1 = Associate Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court |appointer1 = John Hickenlooper |term_start1 = July 2, 2018 |term_end1 = |predecessor1 = Nancy E. Rice |successor1 = |birth_name = Carlos Armando Samour Jr. |birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|48|2015|4|9}} |birth_place = El Salvador |death_date = |death_place = |education = University of Colorado Denver (BA)<br>University of Denver (JD) }} '''Carlos Armando Samour Jr.''' (born 1966 or 1967)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ingold |first1=John |title=Aurora theater shooting judge's challenging past informs his present |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2015/04/09/aurora-theater-shooting-judges-challenging-past-informs-his-present/ |website=The Denver Post |date=April 9, 2015}}</ref> is an associate justice of the Colorado Supreme Court and former chief judge of the Eighteenth Judicial District Court in Colorado. He is known for serving as the judge for the trial of James Eagan Holmes, the convicted perpetrator of the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting.
==Early life== Samour was born in El Salvador, and came to the United States in 1979 when he was 13 years old. His family fled El Salvador due to the civil war that was occurring. He graduated from Columbine High School in 1983. Samour received his Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Colorado Denver. He was awarded his Juris Doctor from the University of Denver.<ref name=bio>{{Cite web |url=http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/retention.cfm?ret=623 |title=''State of Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation'', "Judicial Performance Reviews 2010, Eighteenth Judicial District Judge, Honorable Carlos Armando Samour, Jr." |access-date=2015-07-01 |archive-date=2015-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701131001/http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/retention.cfm?ret=623 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Gurman, Sadie. [https://news.yahoo.com/judge-theater-shooting-possesses-cool-head-strong-155309032.html Judge in theater shooting possesses cool head, strong will], Yahoo News, June 27, 2015.</ref>
==Career== Samour served as a deputy district attorney in Denver, Colorado, for ten years. He also previously practiced law with the firm of Holland & Hart. He began his legal career serving for one year as a law clerk for former Judge Robert Hugh McWilliams Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He was appointed to the court in 2006 and took office in 2007. Samour was retained to the Eighteenth Judicial District Court for a six-year term, winning 62.18 percent of the vote.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lawweekonline.com/2010/07/garfields-jovanovich-is-last-judge-still-undecided-about-retention/ |title=Garfield’s Jovanovich Is Last Judge Still Undecided About Retention|access-date=2015-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701134833/http://www.lawweekonline.com/2010/07/garfields-jovanovich-is-last-judge-still-undecided-about-retention/ |archive-date=2015-07-01 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Service on the Colorado Supreme Court=== On May 31, 2018 Governor John Hickenlooper appointed Samour as an associate justice on the Colorado Supreme Court.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://www.colorado.gov/gov-hickenlooper-appoints-new-justice-colorado-supreme-court|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224144727/https://www.colorado.gov/gov-hickenlooper-appoints-new-justice-colorado-supreme-court|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 24, 2019|title=Gov Hickenlooper Appoints New Justice Colorado Supreme Court|date=25 June 2015|accessdate=24 December 2019|publisher=State of Colorado}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Ballotpedia|Carlos_Armando_Samour_Jr.|Carlos Armando Samour Jr.}}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Nancy E. Rice}} {{s-ttl| title = Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court|years=2018–present}} {{s-inc}} {{s-end}}
{{Current Colorado statewide political officials}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samour, Carlos}} Category:1960s births Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Colorado lawyers Category:Colorado state court judges Category:Columbine High School alumni Category:Justices of the Colorado Supreme Court Category:District attorneys in Colorado Category:Salvadoran emigrants to the United States Category:Salvadoran people of Palestinian descent Category:Sturm College of Law alumni Category:University of Colorado Denver alumni