discovery
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Colorado justices say judge had no grounds to order defendant to turn over info to prosecution
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The Colorado Supreme Court agreed on Monday that a trial judge had no authority to order a defendant to give the prosecution a preview of what his expert witness would say at a hearing to challenge his murder convictions. In contrast to direct appeals of criminal convictions, defendants may pursue postconviction relief in the trial courts for…
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El Paso County prosecutor’s pattern of violations prompts appeals court to uphold dismissal of charges
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Colorado’s second-highest court last week agreed an El Paso County judge was justified in dismissing some of the charges from a criminal case in response to a prosecutor’s repeated failure to timely disclose evidence. The Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office argued that District Court Judge Samuel Evig had not found prosecutor Jessica Kiel committed a…
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Colorado justices, by 5-2, reverse sanction on prosecution in Ouray rape case
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The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday, by 5-2, that a Ouray County judge wrongly prohibited the prosecution from using late-disclosed evidence in a hearing to determine whether probable cause existed to bring the defendant to trial. The court’s majority believed the judge’s failure to explain the basis for the sanction doomed his order. However,…
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Weld County defendant need not turn over ‘all evidence’ of other suspect, Colorado justices rule
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A Weld County judge went too far when he ordered the defendant in a murder case to reveal to the prosecution “all evidence” implicating another suspect, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, while acknowledging some information-sharing is nonetheless appropriate. For more than 40 years, the 1979 murder of Evelyn “Kay” Day in Greeley went unsolved.…
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Adams County judge properly dismissed charge after prosecutors failed to disclose evidence, appeals court says
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Because Adams County prosecutors disclosed key evidence in a criminal case only four days before trial – and 11 months after the evidence first became available – a judge acted within his authority by dismissing one of the charges against the defendant, the Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday. James Andrew Petrie stands accused of three drug-related…
