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

The Colorado Supreme Court held oral arguments in multiple cases last week, plus it ordered further work on a proposed change to the rules governing magistrates.

Latest arguments

•  Members of the Supreme Court seemed unwilling to find civil litigants were categorically prohibited from filing open records requests for information as they are suing the government, while also acknowledging the potential unfairness to public defendants.

•  Although the state’s Court of Appeals deemed it a reversible error for a trial judge to not formally designate a witness as an expert in front of the jury, the Supreme Court appeared less sure.

•  The justices recognized state lawmakers broadly defined a “criminal justice agency” to seemingly include the mere handling of criminal records, even by professional licensing agencies that have nothing to do with policing.

•  Court Crawl will also note this was the first term of the court with Monica M. Márquez presiding as the chief justice, having swapped seats with Justice Brian D. Boatright this summer.

•  After a retired judge inadvertently allowed confidential defense documents to fall into the prosecution’s hands in a Weld County murder case, the Supreme Court has signaled it may intervene to sort out the mess.

Magistrate rules

•  The justices held a hearing on a proposed rule change to streamline the appeals process for magistrates’ decisions. Right now, the magistrate rules can be confusing, especially for self-represented litigants, and the proposal would create a single, two-step process for appeals.

•  However, the Supreme Court heard concerns that district judges, who would handle the first level of appeal, already have a lot on their dockets. Consequently, the Supreme Court instructed the civil rules committee to reassess the viability of its proposal.

•  “We don’t have a dog in this hunt. We wanna do what’s right,” Justice Richard L. Gabriel told the committee on Friday. “But the concerns about the massive workload and effect on domestic relations judges in particular is something we have to pay attention to.”

•  The committee meeting also addressed other business, including a change to the civil rules governing how challenges to presidential electors should proceed after Election Day.

Heard on appeal

•  The Court of Appeals concluded prison officials violated an incarcerated man’s rights by not letting him question a witness at his disciplinary proceeding.

In federal news

•  A former Dominion Voting Systems executive prevailed on multiple motions in his lawsuits, which are seeking to hold people liable for defamation after they spread the unproven claim that he rigged the 2020 election.

•  For the third time, a federal judge has declined to dismiss the unique prosecution of a West African man in Colorado who allegedly committed torture in his home country more than a decade ago.

•  A federal judge permitted a lawsuit to proceed against medical staff at the Pueblo County jail who were allegedly indifferent to a now-deceased detainee’s severe pain.

•  A federal judge indicated she would impose an $18,000 sanction on a plaintiff and her lawyers for withholding evidence in a civil rights lawsuit, despite a court order to hand it over.

•  A federal judge dismissed Barry Morphew‘s lawsuit against multiple law enforcement officials who investigated and prosecuted him for his wife’s high-profile murder in a criminal case that was itself previously dismissed.

Miscellaneous proceedings

•  The man who murdered 10 people at a Boulder King Soopers will serve life in prison following a jury trial.

•  A federal judge in the District of Columbia sentenced a Colorado Springs man to seven months in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

•  There is a new legal organization in Colorado, the Irving P. Andrews Inn of Court, which held its formal naming ceremony last week. U.S. District Court Senior Judge John L. Kane spoke about his former law partner, the late Irving Andrews, as someone who litigated and advocated for civil rights.