Arapahoe County’s new district attorney has barely been in office for seven months, and she’s already showing her true colors.

18th Judicial District Attorney Amy Padden is facing backlash for preparing to drop charges against a transgender sex offender accused of attempting to kidnap an 11-year-old boy from Aurora’s Black Forest Elementary School last year.

The suspect, 33-year-old Solomon Galligan, was found mentally incompetent. Padden’s office says dismissing the case is “required by law.” But Galligan’s history is anything but reassuring.

Diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder at 16, Galligan has cycled in and out of jail for over a decade, according to his family. In 2011, he identified as transgender and landed on the sex-offender registry following a conviction for non-consensual sexual contact.

“This has been like the fourth time that we’re sitting here thinking, ‘How the hell did he get released? Who’s letting him out?” Galligan’s niece, Amanda Morris, told 9News.

The public deserves answers.

Colorado’s mental health laws need reform. Even so, prosecutors have a duty to protect the public from repeat offenders. Is Padden doing anything to keep someone like Galligan off the streets? Is she pushing for changes in the law?

Don’t count on it.

While competency issues may be at play for the defendant in this case, it isn’t the first time a politically favored constituency got the benefit of the doubt from Amy Padden.

In May, Padden offered — and accepted — a plea of just probation and community service for a 15-year-old illegal immigrant who was speeding 90 mph in a 45-mph zone through an Aurora neighborhood. He was uninsured and driving illegally when he slammed into another car, killing 24-year-old Kaitlyn Weaver.

Weaver spent two days on life support before succumbing to her injuries. Her family received no justice, no restitution — not even an apology.

As The Gazette editorialized, Padden’s wrist-slap deal betrayed “the victims, the community and the concept of equal justice,” demonstrating that under her leadership, “vehicular homicide by a ‘vulnerable’ person is a minor infraction, not a crime.”

Now, after the latest straw with Solomon, Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky says Padden will be recalled.

“The conduct of the 18th DA over the past six months is beyond deplorable. This is simply icing on the cake,” Jurinsky told the New York Post. “While certain state laws highlight deeper issues in the state of Colorado, Amy Padden will be recalled for her part in not upholding the laws and punishing criminals.”

Here’s the thing: Padden was elected on a soft-on-crime platform — loosen sentencing laws to “reduce over-incarceration” and “protect vulnerable populations.”

Her defenders might argue voters are getting what they voted for. But how many realized what she stands for? Or were they casting a protest vote against Trump, as Arapahoe County has repeatedly done since 2018?

It’s no surprise, then, that Padden quietly scrubbed her campaign website in May — erasing her platform just as national backlash over the Weaver case exploded.

Padden’s soft-on-crime ideology isn’t just misguided; it’s dangerous. In her hyper-progressive worldview, few groups are seen as more “vulnerable” than illegal immigrants and transgender individuals — especially when cast as victims of Trump-era oppression.

Add in an anti-law enforcement bias, and you get a DA like Amy Padden: more interested in protecting political narratives than holding criminals accountable.

We’ve seen this movie before.

From 2017 through 2025, Beth McCann served as Denver’s elected DA — setting the standard for politically driven prosecution — or non-prosecution.

In 2020, an unlicensed 9News security guard shot and killed Lee Keltner, a right-wing activist attending a Patriot Muster near the Capitol. The shooter, Matthew Dolloff, never should have had a gun or even been there.

McCann’s office initially charged Dolloff with second-degree murder. Then, 17 months later, while offering no new evidence, she abruptly dropped the case — claiming Dolloff acted in self-defense.

As one former longtime Denver cop said at the time, “You have video of a man spraying nonlethal teargas to stop someone from advancing on him and another man who shoots him with a gun (deadly force) to stop what? How does (McCann) say that can’t be proven beyond a reasonable doubt?”

McCann even suggested Keltner would have faced menacing charges — if he hadn’t died. Her office sealed the case.

Welcome to Beth McCann’s world: Shoot a man using nonlethal mace and your charges disappear. But if you’re a woman fleeing a violent mob? You’re prosecuted to the fullest.

That’s exactly what happened to Jennifer Watson.

In May 2020, Watson was driving home when a mob of Black Lives Matter protesters swarmed and smashed her car. Max Bailey, a 22-year-old Black man, jumped on her hood and punched her windshield.

Alone and terrified, Watson hit the gas. Her car clipped Bailey, who quickly got back up. Another protester clung to her window as she fled. Watson called police to report the assault; Bailey never did. But when a viral video painted her as the villain, she was doxxed, threatened and forced to shut down her business.

McCann didn’t care. Despite a clear case for self-defense, her office threatened felony charges but ultimately filed misdemeanors against Watson. McCann even called Bailey first — before Watson or the public.

Bailey wasn’t charged. Watson was acquitted of assault but convicted of reckless driving — and left with lasting reputational scars.

This is what happens when prosecutors put politics over justice. And in Amy Padden, Arapahoe County may have found its own Beth McCann.

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.