drugs
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Overdose deaths in Denver are climbing again, topping 2024 numbers
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DENVER — The number of people overdosing and dying in Denver is up compared to last year. Now, advocates say something needs to change. After another year of hundreds of people dying of overdoses, those on the front lines are worn out. “It’s a lot. And you kind of get numb to it a little…
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DEA squashes cartel-tied drug dealing, seizes over 1,000 pounds of meth
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Federal agents announced Wednesday that they had seized more than 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine in a string of drug busts spanning over 11 months, including a record 733 pounds in one operation in April. The sting targeted a criminal organization that spanned from Colorado to Mexico, and involved undercover agents, wiretaps and other covert operations,…
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Trump unveils deal to expand coverage and lower costs on obesity drugs
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump unveiled a deal Thursday with drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to expand coverage and reduce prices for the popular obesity treatments Zepbound and Wegovy. Known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, the drugs have soared in popularity in recent years but patient access has been a consistent problem because of their…
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10th Circuit orders resentencing after government concedes man’s serious probation violation cannot stand
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The Denver-based federal appeals court granted an unusual joint request between the prosecution and the defense on Wednesday, directing a judge to resentence a man who was incorrectly found guilty of a severe probation violation. There are multiple classifications of federal probation violations, with Grade C being the least serious and Grade A being the…
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Colorado justices, 5-2, say police money used for drug deals not subject to crime victim restitution
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The Colorado Supreme Court, by 5-2, ruled on Monday that the state’s crime victim restitution law does not obligate defendants to repay law enforcement agencies for unrecovered money they use to buy drugs undercover. The government maintained the restitution law authorized the repayment of “buy money” because it was either “money advanced by law enforcement…
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Appeals court overturns Adams County drug convictions due to unconstitutional police conduct
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Colorado’s second-highest court overturned a man’s drug convictions and 25-year prison sentence on Thursday after concluding two Northglenn police officers unconstitutionally transformed a traffic stop into a drug investigation without reasonable suspicion of a crime. Clifton E. McRae, who was originally stopped for making an illegal turn, repeatedly declined to consent to a search of…
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Colorado justices ponder whether defendants must repay money police use for drug buys
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If undercover police officers buy drugs from a suspected drug dealer, but they let him leave with the money and never recover it, is the defendant obligated to repay the amount as crime victim restitution? Members of the Colorado Supreme Court grappled with the question on Thursday, with multiple justices wondering how the state’s restitution…
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Appeals court overturns Weld County drug convictions after officer gave improper testimony
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday overturned a man’s drug convictions and 36-year prison sentence because a law enforcement officer improperly testified the defendant had met the legal elements to be found guilty. An expert witness cannot “usurp” the jury’s role by testifying about the conclusion jurors should reach. The Court of Appeals has previously ordered…
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Appeals court clarifies defendants’ ability to claim they unknowingly ingested drugs
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Colorado’s second-highest court clarified on Thursday that not every criminal defendant’s claim that they mistakenly ingested a different drug than the drug they thought they were taking will enable them to argue they were “involuntarily intoxicated.” An El Paso County jury convicted Karl Jeran Friday Williams in 2022 after he walked through a Colorado Springs neighborhood…
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Colorado Supreme Court says license plate corresponding to other vehicle is grounds for stopping driver
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An Adams County deputy’s discovery that the license plates on a vehicle were registered to another car provided him the reasonable suspicion required to detain the driver, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday. However, the justices stopped short of deeming the subsequent vehicle search constitutional, as the trial judge had not yet evaluated whether…
