RSBM. Good question! Court approval is required. The standard for approval is the usual Constitutional standard: the plea must be voluntary, knowing, and intelligent to be accepted.
Until recently, there was debate in Colorado as to whether the trial court is Constitutionally required to make a finding that the record before her contains strong evidence of actual guilt. The core argument for such a rule was expressed by Professor Lucian Dervan in 2012:
"Today, defendants whose guilt is uncertain are offered plea bargains as often, if not more often, than those for whom the evidence is particularly strong, Not only are these defendants of questionable guilt offered plea bargains, their bargains are often more generous and, therefore, more irresistible than those offered to defendants against whom the government believes it has a strong chance of success at trial."
Here's an interesting article describing the oral arguments in the Colorado Supreme Court. The case is Medina v. Colorado.
Ultimately, the Colorado Supreme Court held that a defendant may enter an Alford plea while nonetheless waiving the establishment of a factual basis for the charge under the CRCP, provided that the plea is voluntary, knowing, and intelligent. The trial court may, in its discretion, engage in an inquiry as to whether there is a factual basis for the plea, and in some cases it may be the best practice to do so, but such an inquiry is a procedural tool to assess whether the plea is voluntary, knowing, and intelligent.
