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

Multiple federal judges issued orders in cases touching on the 2020 protests in Denver, and the state Supreme Court opted to decide an appeal despite the defendant’s death shortly after oral arguments.

More fallout from summer 2020

•  In late May 2020, video footage circulated worldwide of a Minneapolis police officer killing George Floyd by kneeling on his neck. Demonstrations erupted internationally, including in Denver. Multiple lawsuits have since been filed over the police’s use of force locally to contain the protests and violent behavior. Most recently, a judge decided another case, involving the use of pepper balls and potential retaliation against an un-credentialed photographer, may proceed to a jury trial.

•  Meanwhile, a judge dismissed a lawsuit from the organizers of a pro-police rally in Denver that took place weeks after Floyd’s killing and was disrupted by counter-protesters. There were no allegations the defendants — city officials — conspired with the agitators, the judge found.

Heard on appeal

•  The Colorado Supreme Court clarified that DUI suspects who initially refuse a blood or breath test can change their minds, and an Arapahoe County jury should have heard evidence that the defendant ultimately opted for a blood test after previously saying no. The justices issued their decision because they wanted to clarify an error made by the Court of Appeals, despite the defendant having died in January. Needless to say, the decision in his favor will not result in a new trial under the circumstances.

•  A Douglas County judge allowed a criminal defendant’s attorney to withdraw from the case without informing the client of her rights or exploring the reason for the withdrawal, leaving the defendant to represent herself at trial. The Court of Appeals overturned her convictions.

•  The same trial judge, Patricia Herron, also waited two years after another defendant’s sentencing to order $12,500 in restitution. For reference, the deadline is normally 91 days. The Court of Appeals voided the restitution order and noted Herron failed to follow a major Supreme Court decision on the subject, issued months before the belated restitution order.

•  The Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for an Alamosa County defendant because his trial judge violated the Sixth Amendment right to a public trial by only allowing spectators to watch a livestream without analyzing other options.

•  A man convicted of felony DUI creatively argued an 86-year-old U.S. Supreme Court decision called into question the validity of his conviction, but the Court of Appeals took a different view.

In federal news

•  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit paved the way for a controversial ski resort village in the Rio Grande National Forest to move closer to construction, after the project has been in the making for nearly 40 years and two trial judges recently sided against the developer.

•  Because a couple convicted for marijuana offenses did not fully admit to the mental state the jury found them to have, the 10th Circuit ruled the defendants were not entitled to the “safety valve” that lets certain drug offenders escape mandatory minimum sentences.

•  A federal judge found a man waited too long to file a challenge to his sentence, but the 10th Circuit ordered a hearing to determine if, as the man alleged, factors outside his control prevented him from filing sooner.

•  A Montezuma County hospital can’t be held liable for negligence even if a doctor acted negligently when he discharged a detainee who later died in the county jail, a federal judge ruled.

•  Fountain police officers aren’t liable for detaining a man and entering his home without a warrant because they reasonably believed his children might be in danger, a judge decided.

•  Children’s Hospital Colorado challenged a new U.S. Department of Defense rule that would reduce healthcare reimbursements to the Colorado Springs and Aurora children’s hospitals, even while other facilities around the country see an increase in funding. A judge declined to overturn the rule.

•  A defendant convicted of attempted child sex trafficking agreed on the witness stand with the government’s definition of “pimping,” so he couldn’t argue afterward that it meant something different in “Black/African-American culture,” a judge concluded.

Vacancies and appointments

•  The governor has appointed former court clerk Hollie G. Wheelwright to be the Mineral County Court judge, where she succeeds Judge Ruth M. Acheson in the part-time position.

•  The governor also selected Jefferson County Court Magistrate Andrew C. Poland to succeed retiring District Court Judge Ann Gail Meinster.

•  There are two finalists to succeed retiring Dolores County Court Judge Matthew G. Margeson in the part-time position: Montezuma County Attorney Ian J. MacLaren and Kristin Tarrin.

•  The chief justice has named District Court Judge D. Cory Jackson to be the chief judge of the Seventh Judicial District (Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Montrose, Ouray and San Miguel counties), where he will succeed 24-year-Chief Judge J. Steven Patrick.

•  The chief justice also named District Court Judge Brittany A. Schneider to be the next chief judge of the 14th Judicial District (Grand, Moffat and Routt counties). Schneider, who was appointed to the district court bench in November, will succeed longtime Chief Judge Michael A. “Mick” O’Hara III.

•  The Colorado Judicial Department has hired Nga Vương-Sandoval to be the head of the judicial officer outreach program. She succeeds the inaugural officeholder, Sumi Lee, who left for the governor’s office last summer. Vương-Sandoval, a Vietnamese refugee who has worked at the United Nations and graduated from the University of Colorado Denver, will oversee judicial diversity efforts.

Miscellaneous proceedings

•  A former Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputy is currently on trial for the killing of Christian Glass in 2022.