craig welling
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Justices to hear Adams County school district’s challenge to state order, vehicle insurance appeal
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The Colorado Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear two cases involving the ability of an Adams County school district to challenge a reorganization order from the state, and the parameters of auto insurance policies covering antique or classic cars. At least three of the court’s seven members must consent to take up an appeal.…
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State Supreme Court faults defendant for not objecting to sleeping juror
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If a criminal defendant had a problem with the juror who repeatedly fell asleep during his trial, he should have objected to it, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The justices reached that conclusion even after acknowledging all parties at Elliott J. Forgette’s burglary trial were aware of the sleeping juror and Forgette’s defense…
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SCOTUS takes up ‘true threats’ case out of Colorado, the latest in a series of state court appeals
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The nation’s highest court has shone a spotlight on Colorado’s typically low-profile Court of Appeals, agreeing to review a decision of the 22-member court for the second time in under a decade. The U.S. Supreme Court, in granting appeals, occasionally gives the green-light to federal cases that come through the Denver-based U.S. Court of Appeals…
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State Supreme Court agrees to hear case of backpack search that turned up loaded gun
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The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine whether Denver school officials acted lawfully when they searched a student’s backpack, ultimately uncovering a loaded handgun. The justices also narrowly turned down a second appeal out of Denver involving the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to child welfare proceedings. Granting an appeal requires…
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Appeals court finds athletic club’s liability waiver does not bar sex assault lawsuit
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A child who was sexually abused by her tennis coach may sue the athletic club where he was employed, even though a liability waiver purportedly immunized the club from “any and all claims,” Colorado’s second-highest court ruled this month. Plaintiffs “Jane Doe” and her mother sued Wellbridge Club Management LLC, which operates Colorado Athletic Club-Monaco in Denver,…
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Appeals court reverses murder conviction due to race-based juror dismissal
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A man serving a life sentence for murder will receive a new trial because an Arapahoe County judge improperly allowed prosecutors to remove a juror of color based on her race, Colorado’s second-highest court decided on Thursday. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized more than 30 years ago that intentional racial discrimination in jury selection is…
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State Supreme Court finds no problem with judge terminating parental rights as father struggled to log in
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Colorado’s Supreme Court on Monday did not fault a Jefferson County judge for refusing to postpone a hearing in which she terminated a father’s parental rights, even as the man was unsuccessfully trying to connect to the proceedings virtually. The justices noted that Colorado law permits judges to end the legal relationship between a parent…
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Divided appeals court reinstates criminal charges after judge failed to order witnesses’ arrest
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In a divided ruling last week, Colorado’s second-highest court decided an El Paso County judge wrongly dismissed a criminal case when she should have instead issued warrants to arrest the witnesses who failed to appear. Given the circumstances in March 2021, which included COVID-19 restrictions on jury trials and the prosecution’s lack of evidence, then-District…
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Divided appeals court finds man’s 5-year sentence reasonable for now-misdemeanor crime
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Colorado’s second-highest court last week upheld the 62-month prison sentence of a man who escaped to Arizona while on parole in 2018, even though the offense would now result in a maximum of 120 days in jail. By a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals found Jonathan Scott Story was not…
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Despite parents, child leaving state, Supreme Court rules Colorado kept jurisdiction in welfare case
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Even though the parents and the child at the center of a welfare case had all left Colorado at the time of the decision, the state Supreme Court on Monday agreed that an El Paso County judge retained the ability to terminate the parents’ legal rights over their daughter. The justices concluded that based on…
