Author: CHRISTOPHER OSHER
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El Paso County settles developer’s wrongful prosecution lawsuit for $3 million
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El Paso County has reached a $3 million settlement with the developer Ray Marshall to resolve his federal lawsuit alleging a former investigator for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office fabricated evidence and withheld evidence from his criminal defense lawyers. The lawsuit, which sought damages as high as $475 million, alleged Marshall was wrongfully prosecuted…
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DNA state crime lab debacle leads to first hearing alleging innocence
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Yvonne “Missy” Woods was nearly nine years into her career as a DNA scientist with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation when she took the stand on Oct. 17, 2002, to admit a major embarrassment in her work – one she testified came as a “blow to my ego.” A masked man, using what police said…
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Colorado AG’s office opens criminal inquiry into former parental evaluator
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The Colorado Attorney General’s Office has opened a criminal investigation into Shannon McShane, the former parental evaluator who relinquished her state license to practice psychology amid allegations disclosed by The Gazette that she falsified her credentials and retaliated against a parent who reported her to regulators. Parents interviewed by the criminal investigator with the Attorney…
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Colorado’s controversial parenting evaluators get immunity from civil lawsuits, judge rules
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A Boulder County judge has ruled that Colorado’s controversial parenting evaluators enjoy immunity that protects them from lawsuits, bringing an end to plans to hold several evaluators accountable through class-action litigation. The evaluators hold great influence in custody disputes brought to courts and have been the subject of a rash of complaints of bias. In…
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Colorado parental evaluation industry faces calls for state audit from lawmaker following fake credential scandal
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A legislator vowed to push for new laws as well as a state audit to prevent unqualified parental evaluators from continuing to put Colorado children in peril amid growing criticism from parents who say the evaluation industry has mired their custody cases in turmoil. State Rep. Meg Froelich, a Democrat from Greenwood Village, spoke out…
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Colorado parental evaluator accused of falsifying credentials sent child custody cases into turmoil despite magistrate’s warning
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A court-appointed psychologist who fixated on whether the nickname “Sleepy Melo” meant a father was a gang member unfit to parent his children turned in a child custody recommendation so flawed that a magistrate barred the psychologist in November from ever working again for his judicial district covering six counties in northeast Colorado. The father…
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New state department tasked with fixing mental health care in Colorado mired in turmoil
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Staff defections, personnel clashes and delays in legislatively mandated reforms have troubled the new Behavioral Health Administration, a state department launched just over a year ago to fix Colorado’s tattered safety net for the mentally ill that one study ranked the worst in the nation. Dr. Morgan Medlock The new department was supposed to be…
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Mental health crisis in Colorado jails worsens despite $250 million in state spending on the problem
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Acute staffing shortages at the two state-run mental health hospitals that have left nearly half the nursing positions vacant mean more individuals than ever are languishing in jail cells in Colorado while they wait for court-ordered mental health treatment to restore them to competency so they can stand trial. As of Thursday, 449 individuals incarcerated…
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State audit: Colorado Department of Transportation’s $4.1 billion in spending lacked sound policies
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Since 2012, the Colorado Department of Transportation spent $4.1 billion on construction projects that bypassed strict low-bid practices, but while doing so the state agency lacked sound policies guiding such spending, which resulted in statutory violations and payments above fair market value, a Colorado state auditor report concluded. The performance audit, requested by Republican legislators…
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Class-action suit filed against parental evaluator who said he disbelieves 90% of domestic violence allegations
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A parental evaluator already under fire for saying he disbelieves 90% of the domestic violence allegations he hears in custody cases faced new legal woes Thursday with the filing of a lawsuit that alleges his evaluations are extremely biased and favor abusive parents. Colorado’s parenting evaluation industry profits as bitter child custody cases thrown into…
