Douglas E. Couleur, P.A.

Doug has focused on criminal trial practice since law school when he interned with the Cook County, Illinois Public Defender's Vertical Representation Unit and Murder Task Force.

Doug began his career in New Mexico with the 1st Judicial District Attorney's Office in Santa Fe where he worked from January 1985 until July 1990. From August 1987 until July 1990 he supervised the Rio Arriba County branch office in Espanola, NM.

In 1990 Doug and the late Robert Sena formed Sena & Couleur, a criminal defense firm handling cases in state and federal court. After Sena left private practice in 1993, Doug began his own criminal defense practice defending clients in Municipal, Magistrate, and State District Courts and authoring briefs in the New Mexico Court of Appeals and New Mexico Supreme Court. Doug practiced in the United States District Court in New Mexico representing clients charged with felony and misdemeanor offenses. Doug also briefed and argued cases before the United States 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and filed Petitions for Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. During this time Doug served on the New Mexico Supreme Court Children's Court Rules Committee, was a member of the CJA Panel accepting appointments to represent indigent defendants in federal court, served on the CJA Panel Committee and was a Board Recognized Trial Specialist in Criminal Law.

In 2009 the newly elected 1st Judicial District Attorney appointed Doug Chief Deputy District Attorney, a position he held until September 2012. During that time he supervised the felony divisions in Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba Counties. Doug tried cases in Santa Fe and Rio Arriba Counties, and San Miguel County as a special prosecutor.

Doug returned to private practice in October 2012. Doug's dedication to criminal defense is best characterized by a former client's mother who wrote him that being a "defense attorney - it has soul."

Locations	No. of Attorneys
Santa Fe, NM	1