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

The governor announced his pick to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court, and the justices heard oral arguments in multiple criminal and civil cases.

Susan Blanco joins highest court

•  Chief Judge Susan Blanco of Larimer and Jackson counties will be the next member of the Supreme Court. She beat out Jefferson County District Court Judge Christopher Zenisek and Deputy Solicitor General Andrea S. Wang for the court’s first vacancy in five years.

•  She will be the first Iranian-American woman and the only current justice from Northern Colorado. She will also be the fifth current member of the court who previously served as a trial judge.

•  “The law is not an abstraction. It is the shield that protects the vulnerable, the guardrails that restrain power, and the enduring promise that justice does not depend on who you are, where you come from, or what resources you have. I pledge to honor that promise every day,” Blanco said at the press conference announcing her appointment.

•  Based on the March 2 effective date of her district court vacancy (see below), it appears Blanco will be sworn in next week.

•  One other thing about the vacancy: Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez responded to a question about the impact on the Supreme Court’s operations by saying, “We’re designed to fill in when somebody is missing or can’t participate, and so we’ve been able to keep things rolling along.”

•  Readers may recall that just last month, the Supreme Court was unable to issue an opinion in a child welfare appeal because of a 3-3 split. So, while it’s true that the court may be “rolling along,” there has clearly been some effect from the remaining members being unable to answer a statewide legal question due to a tie vote.

Other Supreme Court news

•  The Supreme Court decided that a man’s murder conviction could stand, even though the victim died by gunshot and the jury determined the defendant hadn’t used a gun.

•  By 4-2, the justices concluded a defendant hadn’t alleged how uninvestigated, inaccessible DNA evidence would’ve changed the result of his robbery trial had his defense attorney provided better assistance.

•  The Supreme Court blocked an expert witness’s testimony from a Boulder County criminal trial because the defendant didn’t go through the proper procedure in state law.

•  Some justices seemed uncomfortable with allowing a defendant to stand trial a second time after his jury clearly acquitted him of some offenses, but the trial judge wouldn’t accept a partial verdict.

•  The justices acknowledged there was no explicit requirement for defendants to appeal their revocation of parole internally to the parole board, but wondered why a defendant wouldn’t choose to do so.

•  The Supreme Court heard that jurors clearly understood a criminal case was about child abuse resulting in death, even if the jury instructions didn’t spell it out to the degree the Court of Appeals expected.

•  The Supreme Court appeared to believe that water-related enterprises (government-owned businesses) have authority under Colorado law to exercise eminent domain power.

•  The justices seemed skeptical that BDSM-related messages between a defendant and the victim were relevant to the serious assault that happened days later.

•  The court will determine whether expert analysis that matches fired bullets to specific firearms is reliable enough to be admitted as evidence.

•  The chief justice has dissented in one-third of all opinions issued in the Supreme Court’s current September-June term. She has now surpassed her historical average for dissents, with more than four months to go before the summer break.

Heard on appeal

• A second member of the state’s Court of Appeals has argued that a portion of the revised “reasonable doubt” jury instruction is constitutionally problematic.

•  Donations made to a crime victim’s crowdfunding page don’t necessarily reduce the defendant’s obligation to pay crime victim restitution, the Court of Appeals ruled.

•  The Court of Appeals clarified which materials a judge may consider when deciding whether a defendant’s petition for postconviction relief should receive a hearing.

•  By 2-1, the Court of Appeals decided a defendant’s new murder sentence, imposed retroactively after a second trial, didn’t allow him to take advantage of the credits and parole calculation applied to his earlier period of incarceration.

•  The state’s personnel board wrongly blocked a former worker from including transcripts of an evidentiary hearing when challenging his termination, the Court of Appeals concluded.

In federal news

•  For the first time, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ordered a lawyer, representing herself as the plaintiff, to pay $1,000 for including fake citations generated by artificial intelligence in her filings.

•  A federal judge imposed sanctions on the city of Pueblo for destroying a key piece of evidence (the bus that crashed into the plaintiffs’ home) after the lawsuit commenced.

•  A federal judge allowed some due process claims to proceed against Colorado Treasurer Dave Young over the state’s unclaimed property program.

•  A judge declined to dismiss some claims against El Paso County jail and medical staff, after a detainee allegedly didn’t receive his cancer medication for the entirety of his four-month stay.

•  Colorado’s federal judges are adhering to the majority view from the judiciary that the federal government’s broad practice of denying bond to people in immigration detention is unlawful, while voicing concerns about other governmental conduct.

•  A public school with Christian-based instruction has filed suit against the state, alleging religious discrimination.

Vacancies and appointments

•  The governor appointed criminal defense attorney Melanie S. Morgan to the San Miguel County Court, where she succeeds former Judge Sean K. Murphy.

•  The governor also appointed criminal defense attorney and Woodland Park Municipal Court Presiding Judge Elizabeth A. McClintock to the Teller County Court, where she succeeds retiring Judge Theresa L. Kilgore.

•  Applications are due by March 16 to succeed Chief Judge Susan Blanco on the Eighth Judicial District Court (Larimer and Jackson counties).

•  Applications are due by March 20 to succeed retiring El Paso County Court Judge Steven Katzman.

•  Finally, applications are due by April 20 to succeed retiring Chief Judge Mark A. MacDonnell on the 16th Judicial District Court (Bent, Crowley and Otero counties).

Miscellaneous proceedings

•  Former state DNA scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods pleaded not guilty to more than 100 felonies related to her manipulation of criminal evidence.

•  Current and former Black members of the Denver District Court and Denver County Court got together to take group photos for Black History Month. The pictures are courtesy of District Court Judge Adam J. Espinosa, and were shared with Court Crawl by retired County Court Judge Gary M. Jackson: