colorado supreme court
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Colorado justices discuss solution to confusion from prior criminal ruling
The Colorado Supreme Court pondered the fallout on Tuesday from its nearly six-year-old decision interpreting the state’s impaired driving laws, with the justices now addressing how defendants affected by the legal change must seek postconviction relief. In contrast to other criminal appeals, there was no dispute that defendant Charles Crabtree could file a motion in…
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Colorado justices suggest father entitled to appeal of custody decision
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court signaled strongly on Tuesday that a father deserved some avenue for challenging a temporary child custody order that no lower court believed it could review due to the unusual circumstances of the case. Because the appeal involved a child welfare matter, neither the underlying filings describing the case nor…
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Colorado justices agree fraud claims belong in corporate dispute
The Colorado Supreme Court decided on Tuesday that a corporate plaintiff validly pursued fraud claims over conduct that was not covered by a contract or by a set of interrelated business agreements leading up to the contract. Previously, the Court of Appeals found that Veolia Water Technologies, Inc. had a duty, independent from any contract,…
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Colorado Supreme Court says intimate messages irrelevant to assault case
The Colorado Supreme Court decided on Tuesday that a Douglas County judge acted reasonably by blocking evidence of a defendant’s BDSM-related conversations with the victim in his trial for assault and false imprisonment. While the Court of Appeals believed that the communications between Donald Louis Gerle and the victim were relevant to proving whether he…
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Colorado justices expand ability for civil defendants to avoid participating, win after trial
The Colorado Supreme Court decided on Tuesday that a civil defendant, whose non-participation in the case meant that he legally admitted to the sexual assault allegations against him, could nonetheless prevail after he showed up to testify at trial. A plaintiff identified as J.B. filed suit against Metro Taxi on behalf of her child, E.B.,…
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Colorado justices find ability to extend appeal deadline applies equally to prosecutors, defendants
The Colorado Supreme Court decided on Tuesday that prosecutors have the same ability as criminal defendants to freeze their deadline to appeal a trial judge’s ruling when they ask for reconsideration, even though the rules do not explicitly say so. Denver prosecutors charged Quinn M. Jebe with offenses relating to drug distribution and sexual assault…
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Colorado justices confirm leaving-the-scene prosecutions require no proof of driver’s knowledge
The Colorado Supreme Court confirmed on Tuesday that its 20-year-old decision involving drivers who leave the scene of an accident remains good law and prosecutors do not have to prove that such defendants knew they were involved in an accident. In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that leaving the scene of an accident resulting in…
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Boulder police overreached in interrogating suspect, Colorado Supreme Court finds
Two Boulder detectives violated a man’s constitutional rights by interrogating him at his home using a court order that solely authorized the collection of his DNA evidence, the Colorado Supreme Court concluded on Tuesday. The ruling curtailed the ability of police to use a narrow category of court orders, issued without probable cause, to obtain…
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Property owners may access evidence before eminent domain decisions, Colorado justices conclude
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a Douglas County judge incorrectly believed he lacked the authority to allow a property owner to pursue evidence challenging a government entity’s legal right to take its property through eminent domain. In a June 23 opinion, Justice Susan Blanco wrote that the law does not explicitly provide…
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State Supreme Court oral arguments, 10th Circuit nominee recuses from cases | COURT CRAWL
Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government. The state Supreme Court will hear its last set of oral arguments this week before breaking for the summer, and the nominee for a vacancy on the Denver-based federal appeals court recently recused from multiple cases involving the federal executive…