judge katharine lum
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Appeals court addresses defendant’s request to get property back 3 years after Supreme Court laid out process
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Almost three years after the Colorado Supreme Court clarified how a convicted defendant may ask law enforcement to hand over his seized property, the state’s second-highest court found an El Paso County judge wrongly denied the man’s request to return certain items. Jurors convicted James Woo in 2018 for the murder of Julie Tureson in Colorado…
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Appeals court overturns Adams County drug convictions due to unconstitutional police conduct
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Colorado’s second-highest court overturned a man’s drug convictions and 25-year prison sentence on Thursday after concluding two Northglenn police officers unconstitutionally transformed a traffic stop into a drug investigation without reasonable suspicion of a crime. Clifton E. McRae, who was originally stopped for making an illegal turn, repeatedly declined to consent to a search of…
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Appeals court overturns $850K+ in sanctions Douglas County judge imposed without explanation
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday reversed a Douglas County judge’s decision to impose more than $850,000 in sanctions on a pair of plaintiffs and their lawyer without explaining why the amount was justified. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel noted there are multiple legal tools available for imposing sanctions for a lawyer or litigant’s conduct.…
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Colorado had no ability to prosecute New York woman for unauthorized credit card use, appeals court rules
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Douglas County prosecutors had no basis to pursue charges of identity theft and unauthorized use of a financial device against a woman in New York whose conduct occurred entirely outside of Colorado, the state’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. Erin Brennan and her children lived in New York and her ex-husband moved to Colorado after…
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Colorado justices disagree father was entitled to new jury trial after faulty first proceeding
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The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday concluded a father was not automatically entitled to a child neglect jury trial after his first proceeding in El Paso County was overturned, and instead faulted the man for failing to reiterate his demand for a jury trial. For parents involved in child welfare cases, Colorado lawmakers have given them…
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Appeals court orders new trial after jury instruction ‘drastically misdescribed’ offense
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Wednesday ordered a new trial for a man convicted of failing to register as a sex offender, concluding the jury instruction did not correctly describe what was required to find him guilty. El Paso County jurors convicted Clyde Douglas Phillips in 2023 of failing to register as a sex offender and he…
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Colorado justices: Witnesses cannot be sued for statements in campus sexual misconduct proceeding
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The Colorado Supreme Court walked back a decision by the state’s second-highest court, concluding on Monday that witnesses in a school sexual misconduct investigation could not be held liable for defamatory statements even if the proceedings lacked key protections for the accused student’s rights. Generally, what someone says during the course of judicial proceedings has…
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Appeals court rules anti-police bias alleged in jury deliberations is not basis for overturning verdict
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Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last week that allegations of a juror’s anti-police statements during deliberations in a civil trial cannot trigger an inquiry into whether the juror’s bias requires a new trial. Generally, jurors cannot be made to testify about statements made during deliberations when a party challenges the validity of a jury’s verdict. There…
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Colorado justices to examine what happens when governments withhold key info from injured plaintiffs
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The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will decide whether injured plaintiffs do not have to strictly comply with the legal deadline for notifying the government if a public entity’s conduct makes it impossible to timely identify who should be sued. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to hear a case…
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Colorado justices weigh rights of accusers, accused in campus sexual misconduct inquiries
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Members of the Colorado Supreme Court considered on Wednesday whether alleged victims of campus sexual misconduct can be sued for statements they make during a school’s investigation, especially if the inquiry lacks safeguards protecting an accused student’s rights. Generally, what someone says during the course of judicial proceedings has “absolute privilege,” meaning their statements cannot…
