Public Policy Team
CDAC at the Legislature
With more than 120 years of combined legal experience, the CDAC Public Policy Team features some of Colorado’s premier experts in criminal justice issues who advocate for the shared interests of the state’s district attorneys and the communities they serve.
Jessica Dotter
Executive Director
Jessica Dotter manages a staff of 22 employees, including attorneys, an IT department, a policy team, and support staff. She advocates on behalf of the state’s 23 elected district attorneys on criminal justice policy and legislative issues at the state capitol. This includes serving on task forces and policy committees, as well as providing insight directly to lawmakers as a subject matter expert on proposed legislation. She oversees CDAC’s responsibilities to provide statewide trainings and an annual conference for the state’s 1,000 prosecutors. She also oversees an IT department tasked with creating and maintaining the statewide case management and eDiscovery software systems. Jessica first arrived at CDAC as the Sexual Assault Resource Prosecutor before she was promoted to Senior Chief of Legislative Policy & Special Victims Prosecution. Her duties included prosecuting sex crimes, conducting trainings, and advancing policy goals on behalf of prosecutors at the state capitol. Prior to her work at CDAC, she spent more than eight years in the DA offices for the 20th (Boulder) and 4th (El Paso, Teller) judicial districts – six of which were spent prosecuting special victims cases. She is the 2025 recipient of the Colorado Bar Association’s Gary McPherson Outstanding Young Lawyer award. Jessica earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas and her Juris Doctor from Washburn School of Law.
Arnold Hanuman
Deputy Executive Director
Since joining CDAC as Deputy Executive Director in 2013, Arnold Hanuman has managed critical negotiations across diverse stakeholder groups to promote safer and healthy communities across the state. A leading expert in criminal justice legislation, Arnold provides statewide trainings, serves on statewide task forces, improves public policy and has earned deep respect on both sides of the aisle.
Brad Turner
Lead Attorney, Training & Legal Resources
Brad Turner joined CDAC in February of 2024 after serving as a Deputy District Attorney for six years in the Boulder District Attorney’s Office. As a Deputy DA, he was awarded the Kurt Morgan Direct Youth Service Award from Realities for Children Boulder County for his creativity and collaboration with the public defender’s office in helping youth in juvenile delinquency cases. Brad’s portfolio of work for CDAC includes, among other things, juvenile delinquency, competency, and civil commitment.
Our work
We are dedicated to assisting and collaborating with all legislators to ensure that any bill introduced:
- Does not conflict with existing statutes and case law
- Avoids unintended consequences
- Protects the rights of both defendants and victims
- Meets Constitutional requirements
- Can be practically implemented by the courts