attempted murder
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Crime victim cannot sue over sheriff’s mishandling of evidence, appeals court rules
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A crime victim cannot claim the Huerfano County Sheriff’s Office violated his constitutional rights when it failed to process key evidence and compromised his assailant’s prosecution, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. In a case that seemed to be the first of its kind, Brian Puerta attempted to sue Sheriff Bruce Newman and three of…
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Denver police failed to provide Miranda warning to suspect, appeals court finds
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Colorado’s second-highest court agreed last week that a suspect was both in custody and subject to interrogation, meaning Denver police needed to provide a Miranda warning for his statements to be admissible at trial. However, the three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals simultaneously found Dalani D. Bland’s comments to police about a bar fight…
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Weld County attempted murder conviction overturned due to faulty jury instruction
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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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Colorado justices question whether cab company is liable for passenger’s assault of good Samaritan
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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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Colorado Supreme Court considers whether criminal conviction suffered from undefined legal phrase
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Colorado law does not define “universal malice.” No other state’s murder laws mention universal malice. And an Adams County judge did not tell Cristobal Fernando Garcia’s jury what universal malice meant. On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court considered the possibility that Garcia’s attempted murder conviction may require reversal if the absence of a definition led…
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10th Circuit tosses lawsuit over inmate attack in Clear Creek jail
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The federal appeals court based in Denver agreed last month that a detainee who was attacked in the Clear Creek County jail failed to allege the sheriff and the county knew of a risk to his safety and disregarded it. Aaron Dugar claimed Sheriff Rick Albers and the board of county commissioners were liable for…
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Fremont County detectives failed to honor Miranda rights, prompting appeals court to reverse conviction
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A Cañon City man serving 32 years in prison for the attempted murder of his wife will receive a new trial after the state’s second-highest court concluded detectives failed to honor his constitutional right against self-incrimination when interrogating him. Steven Todd Whitt appealed his convictions, arguing the trial court judge should have suppressed the video of…
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Logan County judge imposed unconstitutional fine, appeals court says
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A Logan County judge violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on excessive fines when he ordered a defendant to pay a half million dollars even though there was no indication the man had the ability to pay, the state’s second-highest court has ruled. Kevin R. Rowan pleaded guilty to the felony offense of criminal attempt to…
