judge craig welling
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Colorado Supreme Court approves new rules for child welfare cases, with tweaks to jury trial right
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The Colorado Supreme Court adopted on Monday a package of revisions to the rules governing child welfare cases, while modifying one section that governs when a parent surrenders their right to have a jury decide if their child is neglected. Earlier this month, the justices held a hearing to evaluate the long-running group effort to…
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Colorado justices hear about broad support for juvenile rules package, with one legal hitch
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Members of the Colorado Supreme Court heard on Wednesday that a long-running group effort to revise the rules of juvenile procedure has culminated in an acceptable package of changes — including a proposed answer to one disputed legal question pending before the justices. During a public comment hearing and in written remarks submitted beforehand, members of the court…
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Appeals court orders new Weld County murder trial after judge refused to give self-defense instruction
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday decided a Weld County judge should have instructed jurors to consider whether a man accused of murder acted in self-defense, given that some evidence at the crime scene supported that theory. Jurors convicted Kenneth James Hoschouer III in 2021 of murdering his friend, Christopher Grau, at Grau’s residence in Firestone two years…
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Appeals court overturns Douglas County judge’s unlawful $22k restitution order
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A Douglas County judge ordered a defendant to pay crime victim restitution eight months beyond the legal deadline and nearly two years after the Colorado Supreme Court warned trial judges to follow the law, the state’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. The Court of Appeals also noted former District Court Judge Patricia Herron “recharacterized history”…
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El Paso County sex assault convictions overturned due to judge’s incorrect competency ruling
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Colorado’s second-highest court last month vacated a man’s 15-year-old convictions for sexually assaulting a child, finding an El Paso County judge made a flawed determination that the defendant was competent to stand trial. In doing so, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals cautioned it may not be feasible to determine now whether Theodore William…
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Appeals court divided over whether La Plata County judge’s illegal sentence is ‘salvageable’
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday agreed a La Plata County judge imposed an illegal sentence, but remained divided about whether it should repair the problem itself. In the underlying case, Jacob Daniel John Jost pleaded guilty in 2023 to criminal mischief and received a sentence of two years’ probation. Later that year, he violated his…
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Colorado justices say no automatic reversal when jury convicts on different crime than charged
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The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday there is no automatic reversal of a defendant’s convictions if jurors rely on instructions that outline a different crime than the one prosecutors charged in the first place. The justices concluded that such a change, known as a “constructive amendment,” does not fall in the category of structural…
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Colorado Supreme Court takes up 6 cases on involuntary intoxication, malicious prosecution, child neglect trials
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The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday it will hear appeals in six cases, including the question of whether a person can claim he knowingly ingested one substance that was secretly laced with another behavior-altering substance as a defense to criminal charges. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to grant an…
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Appeals court orders new trial in stalking case a year after U.S. Supreme Court finds flaw
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday ordered a new trial in the Arapahoe County stalking case that went all the way to the nation’s highest court and resulted in a new burden for prosecutors seeking to convict alleged stalkers based on their communications. Last year, by 7-2, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Counterman…