judge anthony navarro
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Appeals court agrees DA can sue Huerfano County sheriff over chronic mishandling of evidence
Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday that an elected district attorney was justified in suing the Huerfano County sheriff over persistent problems in evidence handling that compromised numerous prosecutions. Last year, Third Judicial District Attorney Henry Solano obtained a permanent injunction against longtime Sheriff Bruce Newman, in which a trial judge ordered Newman to hand…
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Colorado AG’s office scolded by appeals court for belated shift in argument
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office received a rebuke from the state’s second-highest court on Thursday after it asked a panel of appellate judges to reverse course on a recent decision with an argument it never raised previously. Under the state’s appellate rules, a party may submit a petition for rehearing to the Court of Appeals…
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Assault, murder convictions reversed in 2 cases for judges’ errors
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday reversed two sets of criminal convictions because trial judges gave improper instructions to jurors or incorrectly allowed damaging evidence to be heard. In the first case out of Jefferson County, jurors convicted Clinton Eugene Priest of murdering and assaulting Robert Miller after the two men got into a physical confrontation outside…
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Boulder man’s attempted sex assault convictions overturned due to detectives’ actions
A Boulder man will receive a new trial after Colorado’s second-highest court determined last month that a pair of detectives improperly detained and interrogated him about an attempted sex assault instead of simply collecting his DNA as a court authorized them to do. Angel Adrian Castro-Velasquez is serving 18 years to life in prison on…
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Appeals court rules developer may bring ballot initiative to rezone Telluride neighborhood
Colorado’s second-highest court on Wednesday clarified that a developer may bring a ballot initiative in Telluride to rezone part of a planned-unit development for affordable housing despite other lot owners’ objections. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals stressed that the question of whether the zoning change infringes on the rights of homeowners in…
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Colorado Supreme Court to hear cases on open records, illegal sentencing, insurance dispute
The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday it will hear appeals in multiple cases, including the question of whether the public may access information about law enforcement officers who have been decertified for misconduct. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to review an appeal. Among the cases granted, the justices took…
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Colorado justices agree Jeffco not immune from parking garage slip-and-fall suit
The Colorado Supreme Court agreed on Monday that a parking garage owned by Jefferson County qualified as a “public building” and a resurfacing project that created a hazard amounted to “maintenance,” which, in combination, meant the county is not immune from liability for a woman’s slip-and-fall. The case implicated the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act, which…
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Appeals court orders new trial for National Western Complex murder based on improper jury instruction
Colorado’s second-highest court last month ordered a new trial for a man who stabbed and killed his victim during a fight at the National Western Complex, concluding the trial judge failed to give a key jury instruction. In June 2020, Christopher G. Smith and Jared Villaluz-Jones were residing at a temporary homeless shelter at the complex…
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Colorado justices hear arguments on Jeffco slip-and-fall, man’s pursuit of bike thief
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court on Thursday considered whether the state law that broadly shields the government from civil lawsuits applies to upgrades of public parking garages, raising the possibility of cities and counties being increasingly on the hook for personal injury claims in the future. The justices also heard a second case questioning…
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Appeals court orders prison riot charges reinstated against Fremont County inmate
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday concluded a trial judge and a magistrate in Fremont County both mistakenly dismissed prison rioting charges against an incarcerated man when they should have found probable cause existed to proceed to trial. During a preliminary hearing in the case of Dreion M. Dearing, where the prosecution needed to demonstrate probable…