If you are a regular reader of Colorado Politics, as you should be, you likely reviewed a number of articles recently published that cover our primary election. Though turnout in such contests is usually low, there can be important clues that hint at what might happen in November.

Colorado Republicans, generally a more reasoned and thoughtful sort than the national party, mostly rejected fringe or deeply Trumpian candidates, deciding that selecting candidates who might actually win in our purple state is a better path than continuing down the conspiracy-obsessed rabbit hole that so many others (cough… Boebert… cough) spend much of their time exploring.

We saw the GOP voters (and lots and lots of unaffiliated who voted in the GOP primary) pick people like Joe O’Dea, a former Bennet donor, to run against my old boss, Michael Bennet for his seat representing Colorado in the United States Senate. Though I think Bennet will win, he will have a tougher path than if other more extreme candidates had won the nomination. The same with Heidi Ganahl winning the chance to take on Gov. Jared Polis, in that Ganahl isn’t demonstrably nutty. I think Jared will win, but, again, a tougher road.

I could also talk about an interesting race here in El Paso County, where a candidate for clerk and recorder, despite losing by a 2-to-1 margin, is refusing to concede. He claims that he could only lose if there was a lot of shenanigans going on. In a CP story, he asserts: “these results are highly suspicious at best, fraudulent in truth.” That is an election run by Republicans, behind glass windows that anyone can watch from. I bet we can guess his stand on former President Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud. He apparently doesn’t know that here in this county, the GOPers usually just pass the jobs around, even as they decry career politicians and the role of government.

For example, based on the primary results, in this heavily GOP county we’ll see the current clerk and recorder literally move down the hall to become the new treasurer. Wayne Williams (with whom I disagree on most everything, but gosh, he is a really nice guy) was a county commissioner, the clerk and recorder, and he currently sits on the Colorado Springs City Council (where his picture shows a magnificent beard) and now he’s running for mayor. Oh, and his wife Holly is a county commissioner, having previously been the county public trustee. Nice work if you can get into the inner-circle. It appears the disgruntled clerk and recorder loser noted above isn’t.

But, of course, I’m not going to talk about any of that…

Instead, may I draw your attention to another CP story that highlights the critical role of the Colorado State Supreme Court. You may well dismiss this story and its importance, but as it turns out, every one of us could be involved in a case of possible mistaken identity in our legal system.

As reported in the article, our state’s highest court is considering a very interesting and potentially very important case. It seems a man named Enrique Gorostieta was arrested in El Paso County (boy, I do like to keep these things close to home, eh?) on a weapons charge. During his trial, evidence of his past criminal history — a drug charge in 2016 — was introduced, and he was convicted on the gun charge.

So far, so good…

But… was it for sure the same guy who did both crimes? There were no fingerprints tying the two crimes together, no DNA, no physical evidence. What prosecutors did have was the fact that the two crimes were committed by people with the same name and same basic physical description. The jury felt that those factors were enough to decide it was the same guy, and therefore the punishment could be worse, as he had committed two crimes. He appealed his case.

The issue before the high court comes down to how much non-physical evidence (height, weight, ethnicity) is enough to conclude — beyond a reasonable doubt — that it was the same guy in both cases. Your gut feeling isn’t enough. One justice noted that if, say, the description was of someone 7 feet tall who weighed 600 pounds, well, that might be enough to be certain. But if the description could match lots of other people, how much doubt is too much doubt?

In my own case, should I be arrested for two different crimes (I didn’t do it, I tells ya!) the only other Harold Bidlack they would find (as far as I know) would be a guy who died in Ohio a few years ago. Thus, my name alone might be enough to establish that I’m the perp in both cases. But if I were, say, John Smith, of medium build and brownish hair, would that be enough? (You might be interested to learn that there is a Jim Smith Society, wherein the only membership requirement is that your name be Jim Smith. I pity the poor reservations clerk at the hotel where they hold their conventions).

It will be interesting to see what the court ultimately rules. And unless you plan to commit a series of crimes, the eventual decision likely won’t impact your life too much. But given that it is possible for innocent people to be arrested, and given that this court will decide if a jury’s use of “common sense” is enough to identify a person, it is not impossible that this ruling could end up mattering very much indeed.

I look forward to reading the eventual ruling.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.