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

The Colorado Supreme Court has returned from its summer break and recently released its first slate of decisions, plus a federal judge walked attorneys through the do’s and don’ts of jury instructions.

New rulings

•  Amazon was required to include “holiday incentive pay” in its calculations of workers’ overtime, the Supreme Court ruled in interpreting Colorado’s wage regulations.

•  A woman convicted of murdering her husband will receive a new trial because police failed to give her a Miranda warning before interrogating her in custody.

•  Meanwhile, an Aurora road rage suspect was not effectively “in custody” when police questioned him in a confrontational fashion outside his apartment building.

•  No automatic reversal of a defendant’s convictions is required if jury instructions outline a different offense than the one the prosecution charged in the first place.

•  The Supreme Court vented about the shortcomings of the current approach to rooting out racial bias in jury selection, even as the justices have a reform proposal sitting on their desks.

•  Pursuant to the state constitution, county court judges are allowed — even required — to deny bail to defendants convicted of misdemeanors while they appeal in certain circumstances.

•  Although the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office presented a novel legal issue to the Supreme Court earlier this year, the justices realized the prosecution had an available path to appeal that didn’t involve their court. Consequently, they dismissed the case.

Jury instructions

•  U.S. District Court Senior Judge Christine M. Arguello said she decided to do a presentation for lawyers about jury instructions after she had a recent employment dispute in which the experienced attorneys on both sides misstated the law in their proposed instructions.

•  “We’re required to read the instructions verbatim to the jury. In some cases, that can take an hour or more. It’s page after page after page of instructions. So, you need to write them in a way that is understandable to the average layperson,” she said.

•  Arguello also revealed that she made an interesting change to her trial procedures. Instead of doing jury selection first and then segue into the parties’ opening statements, she asks lawyers to give their opening statements to the entire jury pool.

Heard on appeal

•  A Weld County magistrate wrongly relied on an anonymous tip through the Safe2Tell school safety hotline when finding a juvenile had vandalized a school building, the Court of Appeals ruled.

•  Two appellate judges disagreed with their colleague and with all of the parties when they decided a trial judge’s restrictive language in a custody order didn’t actually impose a restriction.

In federal news

•  By 2-1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit refused to block Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors, finding the law regulates conduct and not protected speech. The two judges in the majority were Democratic appointees and the dissenting judge was a Republican appointee.

•  Although the 10th Circuit acknowledged a piece of video evidence was erroneously admitted at a man’s trial, the judges decided 2-1 that it did not affect the outcome.

•  The 10th Circuit agreed a group of federal prison employees can be held individually liable for attacking their fellow workers during a training exercise.

•  The 10th Circuit reinstated the religious discrimination claim of a fired Douglas County schools administrator, while one judge reiterated his longstanding belief that the special framework for analyzing employment cases should go by the wayside.

Vacancies and appointments

•  The governor has selected Senior Assistant Attorney General Michael T. Kotlarczyk to succeed retiring Boulder County District Court Judge Bruce Langer.

•  The governor also appointed Ken Buck, a Republican former congressman and district attorney, to serve on the statewide commission responsible for nominating members of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

Miscellaneous proceedings

•  The Denver Gazette’s coverage continues of the murder trial for the accused mass shooter at a Boulder King Soopers.

•  An Adams County judge released an Aurora paramedic from his prison sentence after a jury found him guilty for his role in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain.

•  A grand jury indicted a former parental evaluator who allegedly falsified her credentials in order to accept court appointments.

•  Applications are due by Sept. 30 for low-population and/or low-income counties to apply for grant funding for courthouse improvements. Approximately $3 million are available this coming year.

•  On Sept. 27, Chief Judge Susan Blanco of the Eighth Judicial District (Larimer and Jackson counties) will receive the 46th Judge Conrad L. Ball Award, which is given to people who contribute to improving the quality of community justice in Larimer County.