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

Colorado’s federal judges recused themselves from cases more than 200 times in four years, plus one of the state’s justices indicated the Colorado Supreme Court is looking at ways to improve the family law system.

Heard on appeal

•  The Colorado Supreme Court concluded a Denver judge imposed unreasonable restrictions on a juvenile defendant’s ability to argue that he shouldn’t be tried as an adult.

•  A Boulder County judge had no authority to order the district attorney’s office to pay the defense for the cost of deleting some wrongfully disclosed evidence, the Supreme Court decided.

•  The Supreme Court will analyze whether an incorrectly worded jury instruction means a man’s vehicular eluding conviction must be reversed, and also whether prosecutors waited too long to appeal even though they were standing by for a trial judge to reconsider a decision.

•  One member of the state’s Court of Appeals was frustrated that a judge would never address a defendant’s argument that his 48-year sentence under Colorado’s “three strikes” law is grossly disproportionate to his relatively minor felony offenses.

•  A Denver judge relied on an early-pandemic law to extend a defendant’s speedy trial deadline. The Court of Appeals overturned the convictions because in reality, judges’ deadline-extending authority had already expired.

•  A Douglas County judge prevented a man from discontinuing his sex offender registration solely because he allegedly smirked at a hearing. The Court of Appeals said the judge’s response wasn’t appropriate.

•  Northglenn police had no grounds to suspect a driver of a drug offense at the time they morphed a traffic stop into a criminal investigation, the Court of Appeals ruled.

In federal news

•  Colorado Politics identified 203 instances, at minimum, in which the state’s federal judges recused themselves from cases in the past four years. Many pertained to conflicts involving family members who are also lawyers, judges’ prior work experience for the government and sometimes due to friendships with the attorneys on a case.

•  In the past couple of years, U.S. District Court Senior Judge William J. Martínez has woven commentaries about the fairness of certain laws, doctrines or governmental actions into his orders. Some observers are happy he is doing so, while others think his tone may be a bit too strident in places.

•  A federal judge concluded that a Black family was not subjected to intentional racial discrimination at a Denver Chili’s, even if employees handled their suspicions of nonpayment imprudently.

•  A judge declined to dismiss the claim from a self-represented plaintiff that prison staff used excessive force on him.

Vacancies and appointments

•  The governor appointed Archuleta County Court Judge/Magistrate/Municipal Court Judge Justin P. Fay to the Sixth Judicial District Court (La Plata, Archuleta and San Juan counties), where he will succeed retiring Judge Suzanne F. Carlson.

•  There are three finalists to succeed retiring Judge David L. Shakes in the Fourth Judicial District (El Paso and Teller Counties): Mary Kominek Linden, Joseph “Joe” Allen Peters and Jennifer Ann Viehman.

•  There are two candidates to succeed retiring Judge Robert Lung in the 23rd Judicial District (Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties): Douglas County Magistrate Donna Stewart and Arapahoe County Magistrate Beth Elliott-Dumler.

•  There are four finalists for two vacancies in the Ninth Judicial District (Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties) with the retirements of Chief Judge John Neiley and Judge Denise Lynch: Alexander Robert Haynes, John Edgar Mallonee, Susan Michelle Ryan and Whitney Lynn Stark.

Miscellaneous proceedings

•  Justice Melissa Hart says the Colorado Supreme Court is considering ways to improve the state’s family law system, including the possibility of a specialty court for domestic relations cases.

•  The Supreme Court’s ethics advisory panel clarified it’s all right for municipal judges to receive certain information directly from prosecutors that is relevant to setting bond or sentencing.

On break

•  Court Crawl will take next week off for the Labor Day holiday and will return in early September.