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

The state Supreme Court held its final round of oral arguments and issued its last decisions before recessing for the summer, plus the court enacted one major rule change and will soon re-evaluate a second proposal.

Supreme Court decisions

•  Despite multiple errors in the lengthy trial, the justices upheld the 2009 murder convictions of Robert Ray, one of the final men on Colorado’s death row at the time lawmakers abolished capital punishment.

•  The Supreme Court agreed that a defendant facing trial for felony murder (meaning they were participating in a crime when someone happened to die) can assert a defense to the killing even if they deny the underlying crime.

•  The justices clarified when potential litigants in civil cases have a duty to preserve evidence, even if no lawsuit has been filed yet.

•  Splitting 4-3 as to the reasoning, the Supreme Court decided the constitutional guarantee of a public trial isn’t satisfied when a judge only allows people to view the proceedings remotely — a question that arose from the need to restrict courtroom capacity during the early COVID-19 pandemic.

•  The court agreed that a man convicted of securities fraud should’ve been able to testify about his lawyer’s alleged advice for what he needed to disclose to investors.

•  The justices concluded that even if a father was entitled to a child neglect jury trial again after the judge’s original decision was overturned, he failed to ask for one a second time.

•  The Supreme Court saw no constitutional problem with a Denver detective waiting three days to obtain a search warrant after police seized the defendant’s car.

•  The justices clarified that prosecutors don’t need to prove a defendant specifically intended for child prostitution, as opposed to adult prosecution, to occur.

•  The court will hear cases about 1.) when defendants can challenge the revocation of parole in court, 2.) whether a debt collector complied with state law, 3.) whether entities can petition to rezone a planned-unit development by ballot initiative, 4.) what happens when one defendant in a civil lawsuit defaults and the other defendant wants to call the defaulting defendant as a witness, plus 5.) the justices may intervene in multiple ongoing trial court cases.

Oral arguments

•  The Supreme Court wasn’t so sure that judges in medical malpractice cases need to hold a mini-trial on damages whenever juries give the plaintiff a large award and the judge decides to override the $1 million cap in state law.

•  The justices considered whether computer-generated child porn was a prosecutable offense prior to 2025, when the legislature expressly changed the law to include it.

•  The Supreme Court considered how long people have to sue for minimum wage violations, given that the law is silent on the subject.

•  A Denver judge placed restrictions on a juvenile defendant’s hearing where he would argue that he shouldn’t be tried as an adult. The Supreme Court seemed uneasy with some of those conditions.

•  The justices considered whether prosecutors have to prove a debit card was usable in order to secure a conviction for the crime of unlawfully possessing someone’s financial device.

•  After a trial judge found Lakewood imposed a new tax on cell phone providers in violation of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court heard arguments about how much wiggle room municipalities should have to reinterpret old taxation ordinances.

Incoming rules

•  After nearly 2.5 years, the Supreme Court adopted new guidelines for curbing racial discrimination in jury selection, albeit without the stricter safeguards for jurors of color that were in the original proposal.

•  The Supreme Court’s civil rules committee agreed upon new language for its proposed revisions to the magistrate rules, largely focused on how magistrates’ rulings are appealed.

Heard on appeal

•  Netflix subscriptions are “tangible personal property” that is “corporeal” and, therefore, are subject to Colorado’s sales tax, the state’s Court of Appeals decided.

•  Two plaintiffs suing for libel cannot succeed on their claims that a news story falsely represented a Facebook post about “furries” in Jefferson County, the Court of Appeals concluded.

In federal news

•  A federal judge criticized Colorado lawmakers for making it difficult to sue property owners for their own alleged roles in failing to mitigate mass shootings.

•  A judge permitted 53 Filipino workers to move forward with their human trafficking lawsuit stemming from their alleged forced labor for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

•  A judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit against federal prison employees who allegedly attacked their coworkers for real during a training exercise.

•  Two federal judges advertise they are holding “hearings” on certain motions in civil cases, but do not disclose that those are actually closed-door, off-the-record discussions between the judge and the lawyers.

Vacancies and appointments

•  The governor appointed private practitioner and former Wyoming magistrate Eang M. Man to the Boulder County Court, where she succeeds retiring Judge David Archuleta.

•  The governor also selected Colorado Army National Guard lawyer Rory N. Devlin to succeed retiring Judge Palmer L. Boyette on the Elbert County Court.

•  The governor named Weld County Magistrate Annette J. Kundelius to succeed retiring District Court Judge Marcelo A. Kopcow. 

•  There are two finalists to succeed now-Morgan County Court Judge Lyudmyla “Milla” Lishchuk in her former role on the Baca County Court: Springfield Mayor Tyler K. Gibson and Anthony Richard LeBlanc.

•  Applications are due by August 1 to succeed retiring Chief Judge John F. Neiley and retiring Judge Denise K. Lynch on the Ninth Judicial District Court (Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties).

Miscellaneous proceedings

•  A Denver judge partially blocked certain state employees from complying with a federal immigration subpoena to turn over records.

•  A man accused of killing his wife in the San Luis Valley has been charged a second time after the original murder prosecution was dismissed.

•  A former court-appointed parental evaluator will serve a sentence of four years for falsifying her credentials.

•  A former Mesa County postal worker received five years in prison for her role in stealing and submitting ballots with fraudulent signatures during the 2024 election.

Time off

•  Court Crawl will be on break next Monday and will return in two weeks.