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

The state Supreme Court is holding oral arguments this week, plus lawyers and judges came together for the annual appellate conference to trade tips and hear about updates from the courts.

Colorado Supreme Court news

•  The Supreme Court will hear arguments in three cases on Tuesday:

People v. Sloan: Even if no one disputed that a defendant’s vehicular eluding resulted in the victims’ deaths, should his conviction be reversed because the jury instructions didn’t state that the vehicular eluding needed to cause the victims’ deaths?

Veolia Water Technologies, Inc. v. Antero Treatment LLC et al.: This is a case involving the contours of the “economic loss rule,” where litigants who suffer financial losses from a breach of contract must stick to that claim, and cannot sue on other grounds unless the law allows for it.

Arrowhead Colorado Metropolitan District v. Roxborough Park Foundation et al.: Before a judge hears a metropolitan district’s request to exercise eminent domain over private property, does the landowner get to obtain evidence about whether the district’s actions are proper under the law?

•  The justices recognized a limited right for defendants in postconviction cases to obtain the prosecution’s case file in their underlying trial for free, provided they are able to show its relevance.

•  The Supreme Court decided that lawmakers explicitly permitted water-related enterprises (government-owned businesses) to exercise eminent domain for projects.

•  The court rejected a district attorney’s immediate appeal of an evidentiary decision, saying it didn’t have authority to render a ruling on the exclusion of certain evidence. The prosecution subsequently dismissed the charges against the defendant.

Heard on appeal

•  An Arapahoe County defendant serving life in prison may be entitled to relief after his lawyers withheld key details about a tentative plea offer that could’ve led to an acceptable plea deal, the Court of Appeals decided.

•  Two Denver police officers responded to a report of domestic violence, spent three minutes in the house, failed to separate the perpetrator from the victim, and didn’t notice the victim’s major injuries. The Court of Appeals upheld their suspensions.

•  A defendant convicted of sexual assault will receive a new trial after a Boulder County prosecutor suggested the man’s omission of certain details to a detective meant he was guilty.

•  By 2-1, the Court of Appeals decided a Lincoln County prosecutor didn’t misstate the law by suggesting that physical contact wasn’t a necessary component of assault.

•  Although the Court of Appeals was concerned about a judge’s visible display of emotion during a child victim’s testimony, it found no harm to the defendant from the incident.

•  After the U.S. Supreme Court decided that juries must play a role in determining if a defendant has multiple, distinct prior convictions, the Court of Appeals concluded the new rule doesn’t apply to people with already-final convictions.

Appellate update

•  Each May, appellate judges and lawyers meet up to discuss the latest trends in the law and the courts, and trade tips about practicing. Here are some of the bigger developments this year.

•  Judge Ted C. Tow III, the incoming Court of Appeals chief judge, said he wants to figure out why direct criminal appeals are taking almost 1.5 years to be ready for an appellate panel’s decision. He also said he wanted to have at least one appellate judge from rural Colorado on his court by the end of his four-year term.

•  On the other hand, lawyers have apparently gotten a lot faster at briefing cases at the Supreme Court after the justices agree to accept an appeal.

•  Justice Richard L. Gabriel said he wants to see amicus briefs that help him avoid unintended consequences and explain the policy consequences of a particular decision.

In federal news

•  Today at 2 p.m., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit will hold a rare “en banc” argument with all 12 of its full-time judges in a criminal appeal out of Colorado. The issue, in Colorado Politics’ words, is whether Judge Gregory A. Phillips created a process for sentencing federal probation violators that is completely different from what Congress intended, or perhaps exactly what Congress intended. Both the defendant and the government are arguing that Phillips was wrong, but they differ on what the process should entail.

•  If you miss today’s all-judges’ hearing, don’t worry. The only thing rarer than an en banc hearing is two en banc hearings, and there will be another one in August in a second Colorado case. Coincidentally (one would assume), that case also involves a controversial decision authored by Phillips.

•  A federal judge sanctioned a lawyer for MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for the second time in the same case after he cited to another decision that doesn’t exist.

•  A federal judge considered a request to block the transfer of “stewardship” of a forecasting supercomputer, which the government is seeking to take away from its Boulder-based operator.

Immigration detention update

•  Readers are likely aware that Colorado’s federal district court is facing a flood of “habeas corpus” petitions from those in immigration detention. The most common allegation is that the government is improperly denying bond hearings to people who are eligible by law. Colorado’s judges, like the vast majority of their peers nationwide, have agreed with that argument.

•  However, there are interesting developments occurring across these cases. Senior Judge William J. Martínez became the first member of the bench in Colorado to describe what’s going on in immigration courts as “sham” bond hearings that don’t properly analyze a person’s suitability for release while their immigration proceedings unfold:

•  Judge Gordon P. Gallagher ordered a man released because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement twice refused to accept his payment after an immigration judge granted him bond:

•  At an emergency hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cyrus Y. Chung immediately released a teenager who was detained in the northeast, but was moved to Aurora and scheduled to have his deportation hearing the next day without the ability to confer with his Connecticut-based attorney:

Vacancies and appointments

•  The governor appointed civil litigator and mediator Leslee K. Balten to a newly created seat on the Eagle County Court.

•  The governor also selected Adams County Court Judge Courtney L. Dinnel to fill a new seat on the Mesa County Court.

•  Former elected district attorney Matthew G. Margeson, who was also briefly a Dolores County Court judge, will fill a newly created seat on the Seventh Judicial District Court (Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Montrose, Ouray, and San Miguel counties).

•  There are two finalists to succeed retiring Chief Judge Mark A. MacDonnell in the 16th Judicial District (Bent, Crowley, and Otero counties): Magistrate Deni E. Eiring and Gail Lynn Morrison.