Judge Chantel Contiguglia
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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…
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Colorado Supreme Court finds Lakewood unconstitutionally expanded phone provider tax
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Lakewood improperly expanded the scope of a 1969 tax ordinance twice to encompass cell phone providers without holding the popular vote the state constitution requires. A Jefferson County judge previously determined the city’s actions failed to comply with the 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which generally requires…
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Lakewood must release police body cam footage of teen’s fatal shooting, appeals court rules
Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last week that Lakewood is obligated to release body-worn camera footage of police fatally shooting a 17-year-old girl, notwithstanding her surviving family’s objections. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel interpreted a key transparency requirement in Colorado’s landmark police accountability law from 2020. Judge Timothy J. Schutz wrote that legislators crafted “a…
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Colorado Supreme Court ponders whether Lakewood violated TABOR in expanding phone provider tax
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court considered on Tuesday whether Lakewood violated the state constitution by expanding the scope of a 1969 tax ordinance twice in the last three decades to encompass cell phone providers — but without holding a popular vote. A Jefferson County judge believed the city’s actions failed to comply with the 1992…