judge craig welling
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Colorado Supreme Court examines reasonableness of DPS search of student on ‘safety plan’
The Colorado Supreme Court considered this week what constitutional safeguards are necessary when school officials place students on “safety plans” that call for routine searches, even when there is no reasonable suspicion of an offense. The case may be the first in the country scrutinizing student safety plans, and balancing the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on…
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Colorado justices skeptical of striking down antique car insurance policies
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court appeared skeptical on Tuesday that an insurance company’s specialty policy applying only to classic cars amounts to a violation of the court’s past directive that coverage follows people, not vehicles. In the case before the justices, another driver struck Beverly Hughes while she was in her vehicle. The at-fault…
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Crime victim cannot sue over sheriff’s mishandling of evidence, appeals court rules
A crime victim cannot claim the Huerfano County Sheriff’s Office violated his constitutional rights when it failed to process key evidence and compromised his assailant’s prosecution, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. In a case that seemed to be the first of its kind, Brian Puerta attempted to sue Sheriff Bruce Newman and three of…
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Colorado appeals court issues rulings on drug money, Pueblo councilman’s vandalism
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday decided a pair of cases involving financial restitution to crime victims, finding defendants are not obligated to repay police departments for money used in drug purchases and also upholding a Pueblo council member’s duty to pay $3,800 for his vandalism. Under Colorado law, most convictions require judges to consider whether…
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Colorado Supreme Court accepts Weld County criminal appeal
The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it will review a criminal case out of Weld County in which the jury instructions used to convict a man differed from the offense prosecutors charged him with. At least three of the court’s seven members must consent to take up an appeal. The justices also signaled…
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Appeals court allows ex-Boulder council candidate’s defamation lawsuit to proceed against activist
Colorado’s second-highest court more precisely defined the contours of defamatory online speech last week, allowing a former Boulder City Council candidate’s lawsuit to proceed against a political activist who created an impersonation Twitter account that linked to unflattering material about the candidate. At the same time, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals declined…
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Colorado appeals court agrees CDOT worker showed agency retaliated against him
Colorado’s second-highest court agreed last month that a Colorado Department of Transportation employee demonstrated his supervisors likely demoted him not for performance-related reasons, but because he spoke with a civil rights investigator about misconduct in the agency. Weeks after Marcus Maes shared his knowledge of multiple racist or hostile workplace incidents, his superiors elected to…
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Colorado appeals court divided on timeline for awarding restitution to crime victims
Nearly two years after the Colorado Supreme Court clarified that the typical method by which judges and prosecutors were awarding restitution to crime victims was incorrect, the state’s Court of Appeals is again divided over what the proper procedure looks like. Last week, a three-judge appellate panel disagreed whether El Paso County District Court Judge…
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El Paso County prosecutor committed misconduct, prompting appeals court to reverse convictions
In a rare finding of prosecutorial misconduct, Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a man’s convictions for attempted murder and assault on Thursday because an El Paso County prosecutor misled jurors into thinking defendant Charles Eugene Jefferson was responsible for the victim’s failure to testify at trial. Andrew Lower, a deputy district attorney, told jurors the reason…
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Colorado appeals court orders El Paso County judge to reopen case of man serving 100+ years
Colorado’s second-highest court last week ordered an El Paso County judge to hold a hearing on an incarcerated man’s claim that he received constitutionally-ineffective assistance of counsel, based on his trial lawyer’s decision not to call multiple witnesses who would have corroborated the defendant’s alibi. Antonio Jose Vargas Jr. is serving a 96-year sentence for…