firearm
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Federal judge bars gun evidence in criminal case due to Denver police’s unconstitutional search
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A federal judge last week barred the government from using evidence from a man’s backpack in his prosecution for illegally possessing a weapon, following a Denver police officer’s unconstitutional search. The Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures requires that law enforcement obtain a warrant or rely on a specific exception to the warrant…
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Federal judge bars gun evidence in criminal case due to Denver police’s unconstitutional search
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A federal judge last week barred the government from using evidence from a man’s backpack in his prosecution for illegally possessing a weapon, following a Denver police officer’s unconstitutional search. The Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures requires that law enforcement obtain a warrant or rely on a specific exception to the warrant…
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10th Circuit, prosecution, defense all agree federal judge wrongly calculated sentence
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After the prosecution and defense were in unusual agreement that a trial judge misapplied the law when determining if a prior conviction amounted to a violent crime, the federal appeals court based in Denver agreed this month that the defendant’s sentence could not stand. Kenneth Devereaux pleaded guilty in 2022 to the federal offense of…
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10th Circuit finds no constitutional violation from warrantless arrest in man’s front yard
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The federal appeals court based in Denver agreed on Wednesday that Greeley police did not violate the U.S. Constitution by walking onto a man’s front yard and pulling him out of his vehicle for a traffic infraction without a warrant. The Fourth Amendment generally requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before conducting searches and…
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Colorado Supreme Court examines reasonableness of DPS search of student on ‘safety plan’
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The Colorado Supreme Court considered this week what constitutional safeguards are necessary when school officials place students on “safety plans” that call for routine searches, even when there is no reasonable suspicion of an offense. The case may be the first in the country scrutinizing student safety plans, and balancing the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on…
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10th Circuit upholds constitutionality of home search, Lakewood man’s gun conviction
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The federal appeals court based in Denver agreed last week that law enforcement had reasonable suspicion to search a Lakewood man’s home and, upon discovering a gun, there was sufficient evidence to convict him of illegally possessing it. Charles Ramon III is serving a sentence of nearly 20 years after a jury convicted him of…
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Federal judge dismisses Colorado Springs man’s challenge to 3 state gun laws
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A federal judge last week dismissed a Colorado Springs man’s lawsuit that sought to declare multiple gun safety laws unconstitutional in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision expanding gun rights. Delbert Elmer Sgaggio Jr. sued to halt enforcement of Colorado’s law prohibiting those who are subject to protection orders, also known as…
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10th Circuit upholds Colorado Springs police’s gun search after second look at case
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Two years after ruling that Colorado Springs police used an unconstitutional search warrant to recover illegally owned guns from a man’s property, the federal appeals court based in Denver has conceded the officers nonetheless acted in good faith. The decision means the key evidence of a crime – the guns themselves – did not need to be…
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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…
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Aurora officer’s search of 17-year-old was unconstitutional, appeals court rules
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An Aurora officer lacked proper justification to search a 17-year-old vehicle passenger, and an Arapahoe County judge mistakenly allowed evidence from the search to be used against the teenager, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last month. During his pat-down of a boy identified by the initials E.J.G., Officer James Snapp uncovered a gun. For possessing a…
