judge charlotte sweeney
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10th Circuit analyzes sentencing process for probation violators in rare all-judges’ hearing
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All 12 full-time judges on the Denver-based federal appeals court gathered for a rare oral argument on Monday to consider whether one of the court’s precedent-setting opinions created a process for sentencing probation violators that is out of step with what Congress intended. Although the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th…
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Corrections officials may be sued for employee’s alleged abuse of detainee, federal judge rules
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High-level corrections officials may be sued for their own alleged failures to prevent or respond to an employee’s sexual misconduct toward a detainee, a federal judge decided last month. Rajae Bouhamidi was incarcerated at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility. In late 2022, corrections officer Justin Torres allegedly began to sexually harass her. Eventually, he ordered…
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Aurora not liable for suspended officer’s attack on woman, federal court rules
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The Denver-based federal appeals court decided on Monday that the city of Aurora cannot be held liable for an officer’s attack on a woman while he was serving a suspension for shooting a different person. Wyoma Martinez filed suit against Officer Douglas Harroun and the city after Harroun used force against Martinez at her apartment…
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Colorado’s chief federal judge breaks with colleagues on issue of mandatory immigration detention
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Chief Judge Daniel D. Domenico broke with his peers on Colorado’s U.S. District Court last week in siding with the government’s argument about the broad scope of its immigration detention authority. In an April 15 order finding that a man was properly in custody without a bond hearing, Domenico acknowledged his view is the outlier…
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Federal judge: Government violated order shielding man from deportation in ‘one-off mistake’
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A federal judge acknowledged on Thursday that the government violated his order by deporting a man in immigration detention during his pending court case, but it “serves nobody’s interests” to require the government to return him. On Feb. 18, Tesfami Chael filed a habeas corpus petition in Colorado’s U.S. District Court to challenge his immigration…
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Colorado’s federal judges maintain approach to immigration detentions while escalating warnings
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Colorado’s federal judges are maintaining their view that the government’s assertion of broad immigration detention authority is unlawful, casting aside a recent appellate decision to the contrary as “unpersuasive” and out of step with the predominant interpretation by the judiciary. However, several judges are speaking out forcefully about the behavior from the government, including missed…
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Federal judge partially allows challenge to proceed against Colorado unclaimed property program
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A federal judge allowed some claims to proceed last week against Colorado’s treasurer, based upon alleged constitutional violations flowing from the state’s process for reuniting people with their unclaimed property. Previously, U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney dismissed the lawsuit by plaintiffs David Knellinger and Robert Storey, reasoning that they failed to sufficiently allege…
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Federal judge sanctions Pueblo for destroying evidence in lawsuit
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A federal judge imposed sanctions on the city of Pueblo last week after it disposed of a key piece of evidence shortly after the plaintiffs filed suit seeking damages for the destruction of their home. On June 25, 2022, a city bus crashed into David V. and Nancy M. Salama’s house. One year later, they…
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Federal judge blasts government for violating court order, confiscating man’s property
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A federal judge gave the government three hours on Friday to return the property of a man released from immigration detention, which it allegedly retained in violation of her previous order. “At its most benign, this failure is an unforced error of preventable dimension. At its worst, this is unjustifiable intransigence, where retention of Petitioner’s…
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Colorado’s federal judges slash motions backlog to lowest in years
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Colorado’s federal trial judges collectively had 37 motions in civil cases that had been sitting on their dockets for at least six months without a ruling, as of Sept. 30. That is the smallest backlog the state’s U.S. District Court has experienced since September 2017, before many of the current judges were even on the…