dui
-
Colorado justices weigh drunk driving suspects’ ability to change mind, consent to blood test
—
by
The Colorado Supreme Court considered on Wednesday whether an Arapahoe County judge improperly permitted prosecutors to share a misleading account of a drunk driving suspect’s arrest – making jurors believe Glen Gary Montoya categorically refused a blood alcohol test when, in reality, he changed his mind and ultimately agreed to one. However, some members of the…
-
Colorado Supreme Court reins in Arapahoe County judge who set early deadline for DUI test results
—
by
An Arapahoe County judge had no authority to penalize the prosecution when the state lab did not provide blood test results in a drunk driving case as soon as he wanted it to, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office petitioned the justices directly after County Court Judge J.…
-
Federal judge refuses to dismiss claims against Colorado state troopers for alleged wrongful arrest
—
by
A federal judge on Tuesday slammed the Colorado Attorney General’s Office’s attempt to minimize the behavior of two state troopers, who allegedly arrested a man without probable cause and ridiculed him because he was a Mexican citizen who did not speak English well. Trooper Jeremy Sugai and Corporal Joshua Curtis participated in the arrest of…
-
Colorado appeals court says officer’s claim that suspected drunk driver refused test isn’t enough
—
by
A police officer’s claim that a suspected drunk driver refused a blood or breath test, without any additional details, was insufficient to justify a suspension of the driver’s license, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last week. Under the state’s “express consent law,” motorists automatically give their consent to a chemical test whenever law enforcement has probable…
-
Colorado Supreme Court orders 2 new trials where prosecutors presented misleading evidence
—
by
The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed new trials were necessary in a pair of cases where judges allowed prosecutors to present a skewed narrative to jurors by omitting evidence that suggested the defendants had not committed the charged offenses. The link between Jacob Vanderpauye’s case in Boulder County and Charles Joseph McLaughlin’s in Arapahoe…
-
Colorado Supreme Court rules prosecutors entitled to drunk driving suspect’s medical records
—
by
Because a woman accused of driving drunk planned to argue that any intoxication she experienced was involuntary, the Colorado Supreme Court agreed on Monday that Arapahoe County prosecutors are entitled to see her post-accident medical records. Noelle Dawn Kelley appealed directly to the state’s highest court after a trial judge ruled Kelley had “injected her…
-
Colorado Supreme Court, 6-1, clarifies meaning of ‘prior’ DUI offense
—
by
The Colorado Supreme Court clarified on Monday that if someone is charged with multiple drunk driving offenses, what matters is which incident results in a conviction first, not necessarily which offense happens first. Under Colorado law, each subsequent impaired driving conviction receives a harsher sentence. Consequently, prior convictions are important for determining the severity of…
-
Colorado Supreme Court to decide whether life without parole for non-triggerman is constitutional
—
by
The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will consider whether it is unconstitutional for a defendant to serve a sentence of life without parole for murder when he was not the one who caused the victim’s death. The case out of El Paso County implicates Colorado’s “felony murder” law, which, until recently, provided…
-
‘The law is the law’: Conifer students experience real appellate cases, quiz judges
—
by
For a select group of attorneys who argued their cases before Colorado’s Court of Appeals on Tuesday, the experience was different in two key ways: First, they traded the ornate courtrooms of downtown Denver for the picturesque foothills 30 miles to the west. Second, the most pointed questioning did not necessarily come from the court.…
-
Delta County judge let biased juror serve, appeals court finds in reversing convictions
—
by
A Delta County judge allowed a biased juror to serve in a woman’s drunk driving trial, the state’s Court of Appeals concluded last week in reversing the defendant’s convictions. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals noted the juror, identified as S.B., volunteered during jury selection that she would assume Katherine Susan Griswold was…