District Attorney’s Office holds annual Crime Victims’ Rights Week luncheon
MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KREX) — The District Attorney’s Office held its annual luncheon for National Crime Victims’ Rights Week on Friday.
“Each year for National Crime Victims’ Week, we try to do a lunch to honor crime victims… and really kind of take stock of what we do, why we do it, and kind of think about how we can do it better,” says District Attorney Dan Rubinstein.
Rubinstein tells WesternSlopeNow the District Attorney’s Office chooses a different case for the luncheon each year to honor the victims of.
“We always choose cases that are closed so that we make sure we don’t have any impact on somebody’s right to a fair trial. Then once we pick a few cases that might be good, we need to reach out to the victims because we don’t want to re-victimize anybody by pressuring them to speak if they’re not ready,” Rubinstein says.
This year’s luncheon honored the victims of the 2021 Teller Avenue shooting — sometimes referred to as the CMU shooting — which resulted in the death of one student and the injury of four others.
Christine Hurford, one of the students shot in the incident, was invited to speak at the luncheon. When asked how it felt to be recognized and honored, Hurford said, “It’s kind of hard to put into words how I feel, because it’s just been a big part of my life for so long that it just kind of feels like every day for me.”
Hurford tells WesternSlopeNow it was good to be able to see the people involved in helping her again. “No part of my life now would be possible if it wasn’t for everyone who has been working so hard to help. I really don’t think I would have been able to find the strength to keep going on if he wasn’t put behind bars, and that’s all thanks to everyone here.”
Director of Victim Services for the District Attorney’s Office Jennifer Lucero says it’s important to raise awareness, not just for crime victims who are going through the criminal justice system, but also for victims who aren’t.
“We never know when someone may confide in us or talk to us about the victimization that they’ve had. And how we respond to them and how we interact with them is really going to set the tone for their healing journey into survivorship,” says Lucero. “It’s important for us to understand how we respond to people who are in trauma or how we respond to people who maybe aren’t ready to tell their stories. They need that empathy and they need that compassion in that moment.”
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is April 21-27. For more information on Crime Victims’ Rights Week, visit the Office for Victims of Crime’s website.
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