confrontation clause
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Denver manslaughter conviction overturned due to constitutional violation
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A man convicted of manslaughter in Denver will receive a new trial after the state’s second-highest court determined last month that a judge violated his constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him. There was no dispute that Donte Carl Ellis physically attacked his mother’s boyfriend, Willie Caldwell, and that Caldwell later died of his…
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Federal judge finds constitutional violation in Aurora ‘Labor Day Massacre’ murder trial
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A federal judge last week agreed a man convicted more than 20 years ago for a series of Aurora murders known as the “Labor Day Massacre” had his constitutional rights violated when prosecutors played for jurors unreliable statements from a second homicide suspect. U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang made the unusual finding that…
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Appeals court says COVID-19 trial precautions were constitutional
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Colorado’s second-highest court ruled for the first time on Thursday that pandemic-era health precautions during jury trials, specifically masking and distancing for jurors, did not violate a defendant’s constitutional rights. Kenneth L. Garcia’s jury trial in July 2020 was the first to take place in Denver after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, the…