court of appeals
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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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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…
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Appeals court adopts federal standard for jail deaths under Colorado law
Colorado’s second-highest court decided last month that the standard used by federal courts for assessing whether government officials may be liable for constitutional violations upon the death of a jail detainee also applies to claims made under the Colorado Constitution. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit over the July…
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Adams County murder conviction reversed due to faulty jury instruction
Colorado’s second-highest court overturned an Adams County defendant’s murder conviction last month because the instruction provided to the jury about a trespasser’s right to use self-defense did not accurately reflect Colorado law. A person is justified in using force to defend himself if he has a reasonable belief that another person will imminently use unlawful…
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Colorado court upholds murder conviction despite jury disobeying instructions
Colorado’s second-highest court upheld an Arapahoe County defendant’s murder conviction last month, even though jurors found he was not the one who shot the victim and the evidence suggested he was not present for the shooting. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel previously determined that jurors in Jacob Alexander Shockey’s trial disobeyed their instructions and…
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Divided appeals court reverses conviction after judge declined to define ‘bludgeon’
Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a Jefferson County defendant’s felony menacing conviction on Thursday, concluding that the trial judge’s failure to define “bludgeon” for jurors may have affected the outcome. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel divided in unusual ways in the case of Michael Casey Simms. Two judges believed the definition of “reasonable doubt” that…
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10th Circuit dismisses Tina Peters’ challenge to confinement as moot
The Denver-based federal appeals court granted the state’s unopposed request on Wednesday to dismiss former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters’ challenge to her confinement as moot. Although Peters received a commutation of her prison sentence last month from Gov. Jared Polis and has since left prison, her federal proceedings addressed whether Peters could be freed…
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Appeals court clarifies offense of impersonating a peace officer
Colorado’s second-highest court clarified this month that a person commits the offense of impersonating a peace officer if they engage in “any conduct” while pretending to be law enforcement. In a case out of El Paso County, Richard James Coulier II and a neighbor negotiated the sale of an inoperable vehicle in the neighbor’s front…
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Weld County judge wrongly denied bail to murder defendant in gap between law change
Colorado’s second-highest court ruled this month that a Weld County judge was wrong to deny bail to a murder defendant in the window between the state Supreme Court’s recognition of the right to bail and the voters’ subsequent overruling of that decision through a 2024 constitutional amendment. Moises Rodriguez-Nunez stands accused of first-degree murder for…