biased judge
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Appeals court confirms no bias by judge who formerly represented defendant
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Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday that a Saguache County judge was not biased against a criminal defendant whose case she briefly worked on during her prior career as a public defender. A jury convicted Donald L. Garcia of motor vehicle theft in a trial presided over by Chief Judge Amanda C. Hopkins. On appeal,…
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Colorado justices, 4-3, reject defendant’s challenge to biased judge
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Although the Colorado Supreme Court acknowledged on Monday that a Saguache County judge was disqualified by law from presiding over a criminal case because she briefly represented the defendant before her appointment to the bench, a majority concluded there was nothing it could do because the defense knew about the conflict and stayed silent. By…
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Colorado justices spar over need for new trial due to biased judge
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When public defender Amanda C. Hopkins appeared in Saguache County District Court on April 17, 2018, her client failed to show up. The hearing was over in a matter of minutes. Records at the time did not document her brief substitution for the regular public defender assigned to the case. Three months later, Hopkins became…
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Denver judge who once prosecuted defendant was not biased, appeals court rules
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A man serving 414 years in prison has not shown his lawyer was ineffective for failing to ask the trial judge – who previously prosecuted the defendant – to recuse herself, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. Relatedly, a three-member panel for the Court of Appeals agreed the judge was not actually biased against Scott Shorts, despite her…
