Maria Encarnacion Berkenkotter[1] (born 1962 or 1963)[2] is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Colorado Supreme Court since 2021.
[3][4] After graduating law school, she was an associate with Holmes & Starr from 1988 to 1990, she then served as an Assistant Attorney General with the Colorado Attorney General Regulatory Law and Consumer Protection Sections from 1990 to 2000, and then First Assistant Attorney General with the Colorado Attorney General Consumer Protection Section from 2000 to 2006.
[6] In April 2016, Berkenkotter sentenced 36 year-old Dynel Lane to 100 years in prison for cutting a baby from a woman's womb.
[7][8] In May 2018, Berkenkotter was one of three candidates considered to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Chief Justice Nancy E.
[1] On November 20, 2020, Governor Jared Polis announced Berkenkotter his appointment to the Colorado Supreme Court to replace Justice Nathan B. Coats who retired on January 1, 2021.