child sex assault
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Former Arvada teacher arrested for allegedly creating child sex exploitation material
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Boulder police arrested a former Arvada high school teacher for allegedly filming sexual exploitation videos of juveniles and distributing them on various websites. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office arrested 39-year-old Patricio Alejandro Illanes after a four-month investigation by Boulder County Digital Forensics Lab detectives and members of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force,…
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Appeals court orders new sex assault trial due to biased juror
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Colorado’s second-highest court ordered a new sex assault trial for a defendant on Thursday after concluding a Weld County judge permitted a biased juror to serve. Prosecutors charged Jeremy Black with multiple counts of sexual assault on a child, alleging he abused a girl beginning when she was approximately seven years old. She disclosed the…
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Appeals court finds Mesa County judge incorrectly analyzed evidence for second time in sex assault trial
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Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last month that a Mesa County judge used the incorrect standard when deciding if a defendant should receive a new trial — even after a prior Court of Appeals decision explicitly ordered the judge to fix his earlier evidence-related mistake. A three-judge appellate panel, by 2-1, believed then-District Court Judge Richard T.…
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Appeals court finds constitutional violation with man’s child sex offense
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Colorado’s second-highest court concluded on Thursday that an Arapahoe County man’s conviction for unlawful sexual contact on a child violated his constitutional rights and must be vacated. Jurors convicted Lucas Bienvenido Mena in 2021 of multiple sex offenses after hearing he pushed a 12-year-old relative into a bathroom, touched her genitals and took photos of…
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Colorado justices to hear cases on defendant who blamed mom, car rental companies as insurers
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The Colorado Supreme Court announced last week that it will analyze whether a person can be convicted of attempting to influence a public servant when they enlist another party to perform the deceit, and whether vehicle rental companies can be held legally liable as insurers when they choose to offer insurance policies. At least three…
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Colorado justices to examine whether alleged victim’s ‘dream journal’ should be barred from trial
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The Colorado Supreme Court signaled last week that it may intervene in an ongoing prosecution out of Boulder County in which a trial judge has prohibited prosecutors from using an alleged sex assault victim’s childhood journal at trial, containing evidence of her abuse. One week before Mark Allan Hochwender was scheduled to face trial on…
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Appeals court rules juries may have unrestricted access to ‘pretext’ calls between sex assault victims, suspects
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday ruled that trial judges may provide juries with unrestricted access during their deliberations to “pretext” phone calls made by sex assault victims to their alleged perpetrators with a goal of eliciting incriminating statements. The Court of Appeals had never before decided whether pretext calls should be treated like a defendant’s…
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Appeals court rules juries may have unrestricted access to ‘pretext’ calls between sex assault victims, suspects
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday ruled that trial judges may provide juries with unrestricted access during their deliberations to “pretext” phone calls made by sex assault victims to their alleged perpetrators with a goal of eliciting incriminating statements. The Court of Appeals had never before decided whether pretext calls should be treated like a defendant’s…
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Divided appeals court upholds Denver child sex assault conviction
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Colorado’s second-highest court upheld a man’s sex assault conviction earlier this month, although there was disagreement between appellate judges about whether jurors properly evaluated damaging evidence of the defendant’s conduct in light of his unusual defense at trial. A Denver jury convicted Mohammed Diawarra in 2021 for sexual assault on a child after he impregnated an…
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Appeals court overturns Boulder man’s sex assault convictions because judge misapplied law
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Colorado’s second-highest court last month overturned a man’s sex assault convictions and indefinite prison sentence because a Boulder County judge wrongly blocked jurors from hearing evidence about the alleged victim’s reason for fabricating the claims. Jose Gilberto Contreras-Guzman stood trial in 2016 on multiple charges of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old relative. The prosecution argued the…
