assault
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Adams County assault conviction overturned for improper testimony
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Colorado’s second-highest court overturned a man’s assault conviction and seven-year prison sentence last week, concluding an Adams County judge admitted improper testimony from a nurse who documented the victim’s account. After the alleged assault, the victim went to a hospital by ambulance. She spoke to an emergency medical technician about her injuries, which was recorded…
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Appeals court overturns carjacking-related convictions after evidence error
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Colorado’s second-highest court overturned some of a defendant’s carjacking-related convictions on Thursday, finding Arapahoe County prosecutors failed to establish that his text messages apparently confessing to the crime were admissible as evidence. The three-judge Court of Appeals panel also concluded the search warrant used to obtain information from T-Mobile was unconstitutionally broad, with some judges…
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Colorado Supreme Court to hear case about relevance of consensual bondage activity
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The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will review whether evidence of a defendant’s recent plans for BDSM activity with his alleged victim was relevant to his theory that he did not intend to cause serious bodily injury. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to take up a case…
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Appeals court orders new murder trial after Denver judge gave faulty self-defense instruction
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Colorado’s second-highest court overturned a man’s murder conviction and life sentence on Thursday after concluding a Denver judge gave a problematic self-defense instruction to jurors, casting doubt on the verdict. Jurors delivered a split verdict, acquitting Oscar D. Villegas-Ortega of first-degree murder after deliberation, but convicting him of another murder charge as well as manslaughter and assault.…
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Appeals court overturns El Paso County domestic violence convictions for improper testimony
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday overturned a man’s domestic violence convictions because a witness’s improper testimony had provided the only link between the defendant and the assault in question. Generally, courts do not allow hearsay testimony, which means out-of-court statements introduced to prove the truth. Such statements are not subject to cross-examination under oath, making…
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Appeals court rules harsher sentence after appeal does not mean judge was ‘vindictive’
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Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last week that a Jefferson County judge subjected a man to a harsher sentence following a successful appeal because the parole eligibility date was pushed back by multiple years, but that fact alone did not mean the judge acted “vindictively.” In 2015, the state Supreme Court noted that when a criminal…
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Appeals court says no automatic cross-examination of witnesses whose probation ends by trial
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If a person was serving a probationary sentence at the time they witnessed a crime, but their probation ended by the time they testified at trial, the defense does not have the right to let jurors hear about that witness’s connection to the prosecution, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. A three-judge panel for the…
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Appeals court ‘concerned’ prison official refused to let inmate question witness in disciplinary case
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Colorado’s second-highest court reversed an incarcerated man’s disciplinary conviction for allegedly assaulting a prison employee last week, concluding the man was wrongly denied the ability to question a key witness. David Ruffin resided at the Colorado State Penitentiary in July 2022 when he became upset at a directive to either shower or go to his…
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Assault, murder convictions reversed in 2 cases for judges’ errors
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday reversed two sets of criminal convictions because trial judges gave improper instructions to jurors or incorrectly allowed damaging evidence to be heard. In the first case out of Jefferson County, jurors convicted Clinton Eugene Priest of murdering and assaulting Robert Miller after the two men got into a physical confrontation outside…
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El Paso County domestic violence conviction reversed because of biased juror
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Colorado’s second-highest court has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of domestic violence-related offenses after acknowledging an unusual scenario in which the trial judge, prosecutor and defense attorney confused one juror for another, and neglected to dismiss the juror they all agreed was biased. An El Paso County jury convicted Cory James Wooldridge in…
