criminal justice Archives

Lawmakers ask Hickenlooper to grant pardon to freed convict facing deportation to Cuba

May 19, 2017

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A bipartisan pair of lawmakers is asking Gov. John Hickenlooper to issue a pardon to clear the record of an Aurora man who was released from prison this week only to face deportation to Cuba, a country he hasn’t seen since he was an infant. If Hickenlooper grants the request, it would be the first…

Pete Lee is on a mission to make Colorado criminal justice more efficient, not more lenient

Apr 29, 2017

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JOEY BUNCH

Don’t tell state Rep. Pete Lee he might be soft on crime, just because he’s driven a truckload of legislation to keep people out from behind bars the past seven years. The Colorado Springs Democrat gives a gentle snort to the suggestion of soft. “Restorative justice programs are not soft on crime,” he said of the…

Attorney General Coffman applauds governor signing criminal justice legislation into law

Mar 24, 2017

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Ernest Luning

Attorney General Cynthia Coffman celebrated the signing by Gov. John Hickenlooper Thursday of three bills that are part of her legislative agenda this year. “During the interim, our team sat down with citizens and stakeholders to establish our legislative priorities for the year, and identify how our statutes can be improved to protect Coloradans,” Coffman…

Former Colorado GOP chair Steve Curtis faces voter fraud charges after allegedly filling out ex-wife’s ballot

Mar 22, 2017

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Ernest Luning

Just days before allegedly forging his former wife’s signature on a mail ballot and fraudulently voting in the November election, Steve Curtis, a former Colorado Republican Party chairman, railed against the “crooked Democrats” and their propensity to commit voter fraud in an hour-long interview on the conservative morning radio talk show he hosts. “We’re going…

Hundreds sign Colorado Senate GOP’s petition to save alleged wolf hybrid Capone

Mar 20, 2017

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Ernest Luning

Colorado Senate Republicans want Aurora officials to know they’re standing with the owners of Capone, the dog being held by the city’s animal shelter on suspicion the longtime family pet is a wolf hybrid. And by Monday afternoon, hundreds of people had signed their names to an online petition started by the Senate GOP asking…

Hickenlooper says recusal might not be enough if Sessions committed perjury

Mar 3, 2017

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Ernest Luning

Gov. John Hickenlooper said Thursday he wants to know whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions broke any laws before deciding if the former Republican senator should do more than simply recuse himself from an investigation into allegations of Russian tampering with the 2016 election. “I’m not sure if recusal is sufficient,” Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said in a…

The time for overdue sex offender sentence and treatment reform is probably never

Mar 3, 2017

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John Tomasic

State Sen. Irene Aguilar, a Denver Democrat, sat at the hearing table alone Feb. 22 and told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that she was “very nervous” to present her bills. Rightly so. The direct beneficiaries of her proposals don’t have many defenders at the Capitol – or anywhere else for that matter. Aguilar…

McCann creates juvenile prosecution unit

Mar 1, 2017

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Mike McKibbin

Denver District Attorney Beth McCann has announced the creation of a separate juvenile prosecutions unit within the district attorney’s office. Effective Wednesday, March 1, the Juvenile and Drug Courts Unit will be reorganized to establish a separate juvenile unit, led by its own chief deputy and specially selected deputies. The drug court unit will continue…

US Supreme Court hears case on Colorado’s Exoneration Act

Jan 19, 2017

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Tom Ramstack

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case last week of a Colorado woman who wants to reimbursed for the fines she paid before her felony convictions were overturned. If she wins when the Court’s decision is announced in the next couple of months, the ruling would invalidate a state law that requires exonerated convicts to…

Fewel: Stay Free Forever delivers ‘self-intervention’ at home to ex-prisoners

Jan 2, 2017

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Jared Wright

Former Arizona parole officer launches crowdfunding campaign to bring crime-specific ‘thinking for change’ education to Colorado via mail, online and in-person classes The angry inmate stepped into my space on the open yard and let me and a whole bunch of inmates nearby know in the foulest of terms that he had no intention of…