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

After a 21-month delay, the newest Colorado Supreme Court justice was ceremonially welcomed to the court this fall, plus the unofficial results from last week’s election showed only one judge appearing to lose her seat.

The long-delayed swearing-in

?  The governor appointed former Boulder County District Court judge Maria E. Berkenkotter to the Supreme Court in late 2020, roughly eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic and before the widespread deployment of vaccines. Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright administered her oath of office in a private ceremony the following January, and Berkenkotter went to work without fanfare.

?  But in late September, Berkenkotter opted to hold her ceremonial swearing-in, known as an investiture, after a mere 21 months on the job.

?  “Thank you all so much for being here to celebrate the 633rd-day anniversary of my appointment,” she quipped. Berkenkotter elaborated that, as someone who is uncomfortable talking about herself, her initial preference was to scrap the hoopla altogether. But she used the opportunity to thank those who paved her path to the court, as well as those in the judicial and legal community who helped Colorado navigate through the pandemic, sometimes at risk to their own health.

?  Some fun facts that were revealed about Berkenkotter: Growing up, her family had two pet raccoons. She has participated in Boulder’s “Tube to Work Day” down Boulder Creek. And she is part of bicycling group, with rides taking her to Spain and New York City.

Retention results

?  Of the 135 judges across the state who stood for retention this year, voters chose to award new terms to virtually all of them, including eight Court of Appeals judges who were on the ballot in every district. Only one judge, Anne Kathryn Wood of the La Plata County Court, narrowly lost her election by roughly 49% to 51%.

?  While it is typical to see one or two judges lose their seats each election cycle, Woods’ non-retention curiously followed a finding by her judicial performance commission that she met the performance standards of a judge. In her subsequent resignation email to the chief justice and in comments to her local newspaper, Woods alluded to misinformation about her work playing a role in voters’ perceptions of her.

Heard on appeal

?  By 4-3, the state Supreme Court concluded its personnel rules do not permit judicial branch employees – or the judicial branch itself – to challenge disciplinary decisions in the courts, as other government employees may do. In reaching its decision, the majority argued the judicial branch’s personnel system was actually pretty great, with more procedural protections than elsewhere in the government. The dissenting justices, on the other hand, didn’t see a compelling reason to treat court employees differently.

?  Even though the parents and child at the center of a welfare case, which began in El Paso County, had subsequently left the state for Montana, the Supreme Court found an El Paso County judge had the jurisdiction to terminate the mother and father’s parental rights.

?  In an extraordinary move, the state’s Court of Appeals took a third look at a criminal appeal out of Gilpin County. Only after some dogged persistence by the defendant’s lawyer did the court concede that a sheriff’s deputy performed an unlawful search and seizure in obtaining evidence of drug possession.

?  A Pueblo County judge assessed a $67 fee on a defendant for the prosecution costs of a case that ended up being dismissed. Although the government argued the defendant’s plea agreement obligated him to pay the costs, the Court of Appeals noted state law didn’t authorize the fee for the dropped charge.

?  The Court of Appeals reversed criminal convictions in three separate cases after trial judges refused to give key clarifying instructions to jurors on the defenses being advanced by the accused parties.

?  Despite allegations of a “violent outburst” in the jury room that left one juror feeling intimidated and threatened, the Court of Appeals found an El Paso County judge appropriately addressed the matter and didn’t need to investigate further.

?  A Weld County judge who kept increasing the amount of money a defendant owed to his victim years after the conviction didn’t follow the state’s law on restitution, the Court of Appeals decided.

Federal news

?  Even though a federal prosecutor removed the only three Hispanic people from the jury pool during jury selection, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit found insufficient proof of intentional racial discrimination.

?  A Fort Collins officer slammed a 22-year-old college student into the ground face-first after she put up mild physical resistance to being arrested. The 10th Circuit had no trouble concluding the officer’s alleged actions amounted to excessive force. But it nevertheless granted him qualified immunity because the law wasn’t clear that officers couldn’t throw someone into the pavement under the circumstances.

?  A Sterling police officer shot seven times into an immobilized vehicle, shortly after he screamed at the driver that he would “shoot you in the f—ing head.” The driver later died of his injuries. A federal judge has ruled that the city of Sterling itself cannot be held liable for any alleged excessive force.

?  A Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy who allegedly knew about an aggressive, mentally-ill inmate wandering the county jail cannot be sued for that inmate’s attack on another person, a judge concluded.

?  The Bureau of Land Management appears to have tolerated illegal mining near Glenwood Springs while an investigation into the allegations has been pending for three years. A judge has now decided Garfield County and a group of concerned citizens can sue BLM over the delay.

Vacancies and appointments

?  Applications are due by Nov. 25 to succeed La Plata County Court Judge Anne Kathryn Woods following her resignation.

Miscellaneous proceedings

?  This week the Colorado Supreme Court will hold a “Courts in the Community” event at Pine Creek High School in Colorado Springs. The justices will hear oral arguments in two cases: Forgette v. People, which questions the effect of a sleeping juror on the defendant’s rights, and Johnson v. People, which interprets Colorado law prohibiting “straw purchases” of firearms.