assault
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Weld County attempted murder conviction overturned due to faulty jury instruction
Colorado’s second-highest court overturned a man’s attempted murder conviction and 32-year prison sentence because a Weld County jury actually convicted him of a non-existent crime. To be guilty of attempted murder, a defendant’s conduct must amount to a substantial step toward committing murder. However, for reasons that were unclear, Wade Michael Egloff’s jury was asked…
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Appeals court reverses 10-year sentence due to Arapahoe County judge’s error
An Arapahoe County judge declined to give a key instruction to jurors in a man’s assault trial, prompting the state’s second-highest court to reverse the conviction and order a new trial. Luis Salinas-Martinez received a 10-year sentence after a jury convicted him in 2019 of assaulting his roommate. Although the offense was a class 4…
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Colorado justices question whether cab company is liable for passenger’s assault of good Samaritan
When Jose Garcia intervened to stop a belligerent passenger from assaulting a taxicab driver, it was a foreseeable event given the risks that drivers regularly face, both he and the cab company agreed. But when the passenger stole the cab and used it to run Garcia over, causing massive injury, Colorado Cab Company insisted the…
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Appeals court says Larimer County judge wrongly forced DA to prosecute assault
A Larimer County judge wrongly applied an unusual Colorado law when he overruled a decision by the district attorney’s office to not prosecute one participant in a multi-person brawl, the state’s second-highest court ruled last week. Colorado is one of four states that allows judges to review prosecutors’ decisions not to charge someone suspected of…
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Gilpin County judge who kicked out defendant’s family committed public trial violation, court finds
A Gilpin County judge who ejected the defendant’s family and other observers from his courtroom and told them to watch the livestream from elsewhere in the courthouse violated the defendant’s constitutional right to a public trial, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last week. Michelle Re Nae Bialas was on trial for the second time when some…
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El Paso County prosecutor committed misconduct, prompting appeals court to reverse convictions
In a rare finding of prosecutorial misconduct, Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a man’s convictions for attempted murder and assault on Thursday because an El Paso County prosecutor misled jurors into thinking defendant Charles Eugene Jefferson was responsible for the victim’s failure to testify at trial. Andrew Lower, a deputy district attorney, told jurors the reason…
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Federal judge says Westminster officers not liable for using Taser on man in home in front of family
Westminster police officers who hit and tased an intoxicated man in his home while his child and wife screamed for them to stop cannot be held liable for excessive force, a federal judge ruled last month. Although Jose Sariñana Gandara’s wife originally called 911 to inquire about transporting Sariñana to a detox facility, multiple officers who…
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‘The law is the law’: Conifer students experience real appellate cases, quiz judges
For a select group of attorneys who argued their cases before Colorado’s Court of Appeals on Tuesday, the experience was different in two key ways: First, they traded the ornate courtrooms of downtown Denver for the picturesque foothills 30 miles to the west. Second, the most pointed questioning did not necessarily come from the court.…
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Denver jury should not have heard about defendant’s prior assaults of wife, appeals court rules
A man convicted of beating his wife will receive a new trial after the state’s second-highest court determined a Denver judge mistakenly allowed jurors to hear about two previous instances of the defendant beating his wife. Under Colorado’s procedural rules, prosecutors cannot use evidence of a defendant’s other, uncharged misconduct to show that the person…
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Colorado appeals court overturns conviction for Larimer County judge’s faulty instruction
In a rare move, both the prosecution and defense agreed the state’s Court of Appeals should overturn a man’s assault conviction because a Larimer County judge incorrectly instructed jurors about self-defense. Consequently, a three-judge appellate panel on Thursday ordered a new trial for Anthony John Trimarco, who is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence. In criminal…