From The Denver Post:  The remarkable removal of a judge from a death-penalty appeal shortly before he was set to make a significant ruling demands public explanation. Lawyers for convicted murderer and death-row inmate Sir Mario Owens are right about that, whatever the value of the remaining claims they made in a legal filing last week with the state Supreme Court.

Judge Gerald Rafferty’s dismissal from Owens’ case in April may in fact have been justified. But who can tell given the secrecy surrounding the process by which the Colorado Supreme Court yanked Rafferty off the case. A press release that said Rafferty “breached the terms of the contract” as a senior judge hardly qualifies as sufficient.

“To remove a sitting judge … at exactly the same moment that he was issuing his final order, which would largely decide Mr. Owens’ fate and whether he lives or dies, is literally unprecedented, not only in a Colorado case of this magnitude, but in the annals of law,” Owens’ lawyers wrote.

It is also costly, since it negates much of the lengthy hearings held in Rafferty’s courtroom. Evidence will have to be presented anew and witnesses required to repeat their testimony. This may be unavoidable, but it is also extraordinary. What did Rafferty do to merit such treatment?

The public interest goes well beyond the extra price tag, too. Owens’ attorneys contend that Rafferty was poised to find major flaws in the original prosecution. The dark implication of interference is obvious, and should not be allowed to linger when a straightforward explanation for Rafferty’s departure could clear the air.

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