Ostis Otto Moore

In 1924, Moore joined the Denver District Attorney's office, and was charged with prosecuting bootleggers.[1] Moore also investigated and had many incidents with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which had a strong hold on politics in Denver in the 1920s and 1930s.[2] (In 1962, he was interviewed by James Harlan Davis about the KKK. He shared his reminiscences about his experiences during the height of the Ku Klux Klan influence in Colorado.)[3][4]

In 1927, around the time of the Great Depression, he left the district attorney's office and started his own law practice, often accepting produce and other goods as payment.[1] In an effort to help senior citizens, he formed the National Annuity League and published a weekly paper for the elderly called the Bulletin Free Press. He worked with the United States House Committee on Ways and Means in Washington, D.C., on constructing legislation, which later became the Social Security Act. He also traveled the state and gave speeches and lobbied for support for the act. In 1936, his Colorado constitutional amendment was passed. In 1947, Moore wrote a book entitled Mile High Harbor about the movement to provide income for seniors.[1][5]

In 1939, Moore returned to the Denver District Attorney's office. After being defeated in the election for Denver District Attorney in 1940, he returned to private practice. The William Eugene Wymer case was one of several of his murder defenses that received national publicity.[1]

Moore was elected to the Colorado Supreme Court in 1948. He served from 1949 until 1968 on the bench.[1] During his twenty years with the Court, Moore was involved in more than 5,000 decisions and wrote 1,038 opinions. He said of his time as a justice, "I particularly remember my dissents. I really relished them; they had more conviction. I may be wrong, but I'm never in doubt."[1] He served three terms as Chief Justice (1957, 1967 and 1968). In 1969, Moore retired from the Colorado Supreme Court.[1] During his service, he wrote the majority opinion in 1968 that set a still-standing precedent that it is unconstitutional to require a defendant to prove insanity. He stated that it was the prosecution's burden to prove guilt or sanity: "It cannot be done … for the very simple reason that in this state our concept of due process of law prohibits it."[6]

In 1970, Moore was asked to write and update the Colorado Criminal Code.[1] In 1971, Moore helped with the creation of the Sam Cary Bar Association,[7] a group for African-American Lawyers.

He served as an assistant Denver District Attorney from 1973 to 1983 at the request of the elected Denver District Attorney Dale Tooley. When Tooley resigned to run for Denver mayor in 1983, Moore continued in the office under Norman Early. Moore worked for two more years, and then retired at the age of 89 in May 1985.[1]