Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government.

A recently-appointed federal magistrate judge held her formal swearing-in ceremony, known as an investiture, last week and the Colorado Supreme Court had some harsh words for a state agency that is making life difficult for juvenile court judges.

Friends, family celebrate new judge

?  U.S. Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell began her job in early July as the only federal judge who is stationed in Colorado Springs, but last week was her investiture ceremony in downtown Denver where family and colleagues watched her formally take the oath of office. Several people spoke on her behalf, including her former boss, Attorney General Phil Weiser, who hired her for a leadership position shortly after his 2018 election.

?  Attendees also heard speeches from Dominguez Braswell’s high school sweetheart-turned husband plus her former law partner, Michael Rollin, who talked about the corporate and financial cases they litigated from Colorado: “You may not be surprised that Wall Street boardrooms are not the most inviting places in general. They’re not particularly inviting to women and people of color and especially women of color. … Maritza had the room of all suits nodding along with her ideas and her strategy and ultimately following her direction. That’s what led to big trial wins.”

?  There is one vacancy on the district court for a full-time magistrate judge, following the appointment of the previous officeholder, Nina Y. Wang, as a district judge. All of the magistrate judges work out of Denver, with the exception of Dominguez Braswell and two part-time judges in Durango and Grand Junction.

Justices vent frustration

?  Multiple members of the state Supreme Court had some unflattering things to say about the agency formerly known as the Office of Behavioral Health (now going by the Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health). The office is responsible for coordinating services for juvenile defendants who are incompetent to stand trial and need their competency restored. In short, OBH takes the position that its providers can’t give meaningful reports to juvenile court judges about a child’s progress because that would amount to opining on the effectiveness of their own services. 

?  Although the court’s majority embraced a workaround to the problem, that did not stop three members, including Justices William W. Hood III and Richard L. Gabriel, from accusing OBH in a dissent of not following the law:

?  The Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health disputed the accusation that it isn’t living up to its legal obligations.

?  In other news out of the Supreme Court, the justices largely upheld the findings of professional misconduct against a divorce attorney who used an undisclosed IRS refund check from her client to pay her own bills, while failing to disclose the sizable amount of money to her client’s husband.

In federal news

?  A federal judge believed a Rifle police officer who shot a fleeing, suicidal man in the back didn’t act reasonably, rejecting the officer’s explanation that the fleeing man – now deceased – posed a threat to others. A jury will now decide whether the officer and the city itself are liable for a constitutional violation.

?  A detainee in the El Paso County jail developed an infection. At the time he was hospitalized, it was “the size of a silver dollar, is hot and has a black center.” A federal judge, however, ruled he cannot sue the sheriff’s deputies at the jail for failing to intervene in a timely fashion, despite the seriousness of the medical problem.

?  Two police officers at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs campus detained and handcuffed a student for failing to show his identification when asked. After 11 minutes, they lectured him and released him. Although a judge found several of the man’s claims were not viable, the allegations of wrongful detention will proceed.

?  A handful of Michigan residents suing Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems failed to demonstrate they were actually harmed from the company’s efforts to defend itself from defamation.

?  At the Denver mayor’s 2019 inauguration, police arrested a woman for violating the city’s ordinance against disrupting events. A judge has declined Denver’s motion to dismiss her subsequent lawsuit.

?  An inmate at the “supermax” prison in Florence had not shown how a pair of policies regulating inmate mail were unconstitutional, ruled the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.

?  A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year altered the way the 10th Circuit evaluates malicious prosecution claims. Consequently, the 10th Circuit reinstated a man’s lawsuit against Denver police officers based on the new protocol.

?  Even though the 10th Circuit is considering whether to block a University of Colorado policy requiring COVID-19 vaccinations at its medical campus, a federal trial judge has winnowed down several of the claims against CU as either moot or not legal violations.

Vacancies and appointments

?  District Court Judge Todd Jay Plewe will be the next chief judge of the 22nd Judicial District, which encompasses Dolores and Montezuma counties. Plewe first began as a county court judge in 2002 before joining the district court in 2010. He will succeed Chief Judge Douglas S. Walker in January.

?  There are three finalists to succeed retiring Judge K.J. Moore on the Jefferson County Court: Keith Gorman, Christopher Rhamey and Amber St. Clair.

?  There are also two candidates to succeed Amanda Hunter on the Custer County Court, following her elevation to the district court bench. Michael Halpin and Troy Krenning are on the shortlist.

Miscellaneous proceedings

?  The Denver Gazette reported on concerns about the conflicts of interest Supreme Court justices have in ongoing disciplinary investigations.

?  The state’s Court of Appeals reversed another criminal conviction in Adams County because of a judge’s use of a faulty reasonable doubt analogy.

?  This week, the Court of Appeals will hold oral arguments in the community, hearing two cases at the Montrose Pavilion on Tuesday and two more at Pagosa Springs High School on Thursday.

?  The state’s Judicial Department has announced five of the 22 judicial districts will begin administering electronic surveys to people about their experiences using the court system. The targeted demographics include litigants, attorneys, jurors and law enforcement. The jurisdictions participating include the larger counties of Jefferson, El Paso and Larimer, as well as smaller counties like Mineral, Rio Grande and Jackson.