Hon. David L. Lobato (Ret.) was a judge for the Pueblo County Court in Colorado. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor John Hickenlooper on February 7, 2012, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Ernest J. Ruybalid (Ret.). Lobato retired on July 1, 2021.
During his judicial tenure, he presided over misdemeanor and traffic cases.
Prior to his appointment, Lobato worked as a state public defender with the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender in Pueblo County (1995 to 2012) and El Paso County (1994 to 1995).
He received a bachelor’s degree from the College of Santa Fe (1982) and a bachelor of sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (1985). Lobato, who was ordained as a Roman Catholic Priest, remained in Rome to study moral theology at the Pontifical Alfonsian Academy (1985 to 1987) and later served as an associate pastor at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Pueblo. He went on to complete a J.D. at Colorado Law in 1994.