Professional Career
From 1977 to 1981, Suthers served as a deputy and chief deputy district attorney in Colorado Springs. From 1979 to 1981, he headed the Economic Crime Division of the district attorney’s office and co-authored a book on consumer fraud and white-collar crime. During his time as a prosecutor at the local level, he tried cases ranging from drunken driving to first degree murder.
In 1981, Suthers became a litigation partner in the Colorado Springs law firm of Sparks Dix, P.C. He remained with the firm until 1988, at which time he defeated an incumbent to become the elected district attorney of the Fourth Judicial District. He served as president of the Colorado District Attorneys Council in 1994-1995. At the conclusion of his second term, he returned to Sparks Dix in 1997 as senior counsel in charge of the firm’s litigation section.
Suthers ran for Attorney General in 1998 and lost 47.4% to 50% to Ken Salazar.
In 1999, Suthers was appointed executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections by Governor Bill Owens. In that capacity he managed a department of 6,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $500 million. In August 2001, Suthers was appointed by President George W. Bush as United States Attorney for the District of Colorado. He was unanimously confirmed by the United State Senate and assumed the position the week before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. During his tenure as U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, the office prosecuted several high-profile white collar cases, including cases against executives of Qwest.
Suthers serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver School of Law and as a scholar in residence at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. He also has held several bar association leadership positions, including president of the El Paso County Bar Association and senior vice president of the Colorado Bar Association. He served as Colorado Commissioner on the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws from 1993 to 1997.
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