jefferson county
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10th Circuit partially revives lawsuit over 2020 Denver protest injuries
The Colorado-based federal appeals court revived a man’s claims against Denver on Friday after concluding a trial judge resolved the case in the city’s favor without analyzing two of the three instances of alleged excessive force and other constitutional violations. For the past six years, plaintiffs have litigated several lawsuits arising from the demonstrations that…
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Democrat Phil Weiser names Jeffco Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper as his gubernatorial running mate
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, the Democratic nominee for governor, on Wednesday named Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper to be his lieutenant governor running mate in the general election. Calling her “someone who can be a governing partner,” Weiser said at a news conference that Dahlkemper’s broad range of experience in local government made her…
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Appeals court clarifies guardrails for mandatory arbitration
Colorado’s second-highest court issued two decisions in recent weeks that clarified the limits on mandatory arbitration, including for cases that raise workplace sexual harassment claims. While arbitration can be a more efficient and private form of dispute resolution compared to a lawsuit, it can also lack transparency and generally leaves a person without an avenue…
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Appeals court reverses ‘particularly brutal’ sex assault convictions due to flawed warrant
Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a Jefferson County defendant’s sexual assault and kidnapping convictions last month after concluding that police relied on an unconstitutionally broad search warrant to obtain evidence from the man’s cell phone. Jurors convicted Joseph Gabriel Van Eck of abducting multiple women near Colfax Avenue, driving them toward the mountains, and sexually assaulting…
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Appeals court reverses Jeffco assault convictions due to omitted jury instruction
Colorado’s second-highest court agreed last month that a Jefferson County defendant’s assault convictions could not stand because his jury should have been allowed to consider whether he used force against a bar patron to defend his girlfriend from inappropriate touching. While the testimony conflicted and the surveillance video was not conclusive, jurors heard that Scott…
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Divided appeals court reverses conviction after judge declined to define ‘bludgeon’
Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a Jefferson County defendant’s felony menacing conviction on Thursday, concluding that the trial judge’s failure to define “bludgeon” for jurors may have affected the outcome. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel divided in unusual ways in the case of Michael Casey Simms. Two judges believed the definition of “reasonable doubt” that…
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As Colorado’s population growth slows, some metro counties see losses
Population growth in Colorado, which had helped drive the region’s burgeoning economy over recent years, has slowed markedly, with some counties in metro Denver experiencing losses, according to a new report. From 2024 to 2025 the state added just 33,151 residents, marking one of the lowest annual growth cycles it had posted over the past…
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Jeffco murder conviction overturned due to improper evidence
Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a defendant’s convictions for murder and aggravated robbery earlier this month, finding that a Jefferson County judge allowed evidence that improperly suggested the man had “bad character” for possessing guns generally. Under the rules for criminal cases, evidence cannot be used to prove a defendant has bad character, and they acted…
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Federal judges hear arguments over Colorado school district’s gender identity rooming policy
A panel of judges at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging JeffCo Public School’s policy of assigning students to overnight accommodations on school trips based on gender identity. The lawsuit, filed in 2024, alleged that the policy infringes on parents’ religious freedom by denying them notice or…
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SCOTUS decision on ‘3 strikes’ sentences does not benefit defendants with older convictions, appeals court says
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision affecting how defendants are sentenced under Colorado’s “three strikes” law does not benefit people whose convictions have long been final, the state’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. For many years, Colorado’s Habitual Criminal Act required judges to impose three or four times the maximum sentence if a defendant was convicted of…