Robert W. Kiesnowski Jr. resigned from his position as an Adams County district judge this summer following his admission to a campaign of retaliation against an employee and a failure to comply with the judiciary’s rules on personal relationships, according to documents filed with the Colorado Supreme Court.

Kiesnowski joined the 17th Judicial District bench in 2011 and his resignation this year was a condition of Kiesnowki’s non-public discipline in March through the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline.

On Oct. 19, the commission filed a recommendation with the Supreme Court seeking a public censure of Kieswnoski. The commission’s director, Christopher Gregory, wrote about the existence of a special master’s report from September as the basis for the discipline.

Gregory did not go into the details of the report, but he attached the previous private discipline Kiesnowski received that led to his resignation. Gregory alleged the commission’s delayed action on Kiesnowski’s misconduct — first detected in 2016 — was the product of judicial officials withholding details from the disciplinary body, as well as the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel refusing at first to help with the investigation.

According to Kiesnowski’s private censure, which Kiesnowski signed and which included facts he agreed to, his misconduct spanned two categories: An alleged affair with a court employee and his harassment of another worker to the point of forbidding her to “socialize” with other staff.

In the spring of 2016, judicial employees suspected Kiesnowski and a court employee, Maya Korbe, were having an affair. In August, while Kiesnowski was still married, the two went to thenChief Judge Patrick Murphy to disclose their romantic relationship.

Although a judicial branch policy, known as a chief justice directive, prohibited a judge and an employee from having a romantic relationship while working within the same judicial district, neither Kiesnowski nor Korbe resigned or transferred to another jurisdiction. Murphy did not require them to, either.

Court administrator Ben Stough subsequently reported to the judiciary’s human resources department that Kiesnowski and Korbe had provided assurances “their workplace conduct would remain professional.” The two later married each other.

Around the time he disclosed his relationship, Kiesnowski grew suspicious his judicial assistant was gossiping about him. Although the judicial discipline commission named the assistant in its filing, Colorado Politics is withholding her identity because of her status as a whistleblower.

Kiesnowski submitted a list of “terms and conditions” to Stough, the assistant’s direct supervisor, prohibiting her from using the courthouse internet “unless expressly authorized and directed to do so by Judge Kiesnowski.” She could not use the court’s instant messaging system to invite coworkers to lunch, could not leave work even five minutes early without Kiesnowski’s permission and was banned from calling him “Bob.”

Kiesnowski also wanted to prohibit the judicial assistant from speaking disparagingly about him, and ordered her not to “’socialize with courthouse personnel without the express, written approval of Judge Kiesnowski.”

Stough refused to accept the terms and conditions. Instead, he transferred the judicial assistant to another position, effectively demoting her.

When the judicial assistant applied to work for newly appointed District Court Judge Tomee Crespin, Kiesnowski tried to interfere with the hiring. He told Crespin the judicial assistant “was not loyal, she could not be trusted, and she would talk about the judge she works with.”

Crespin hired her anyway and later attested to the judicial assistant’s professional and competent performance. Nonetheless, Kiesnowski uncovered Facebook posts that advocated against his 2020 retention, and he suspected the judicial assistant was behind them.

He called Crespin and demanded that she discipline the judicial assistant for the posts. The judicial discipline commission’s investigation found the judicial assistant had nothing to do with the anti-Kiesnowski posts.

The commission and Kiesnowski agreed he committed seven conduct violations, including his failure to abide by the chief justice directive and his “effort to intimidate and control” his judicial assistant.

Kiesnowski signed the disciplinary document on March 14 and agreed to resign effective July 1. The commission noted that Murphy, the chief judge who also disregarded the chief justice directive governing relationships, is now retired and not subject to discipline. The Denver Post previously discovered that Murphy and Stough were separately responsible for failing to immediately report pornography found on a government computer.

Gregory, the commission’s director, said the Supreme Court has ordered redactions to the disciplinary filing before it can be made public, including the contents of Kiesnowski’s private discipline. The commission is asking the court to reconsider.

In response to a question about how often the commission agrees to a non-public sanction for a judge who retaliates against employees and violates departmental policy, Gregory said the commission “has a variety of tools to impose discipline, including stipulations which often expedite case resolution.”