judge neeti pawar
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Colorado justices find ability to extend appeal deadline applies equally to prosecutors, defendants
The Colorado Supreme Court decided on Tuesday that prosecutors have the same ability as criminal defendants to freeze their deadline to appeal a trial judge’s ruling when they ask for reconsideration, even though the rules do not explicitly say so. Denver prosecutors charged Quinn M. Jebe with offenses relating to drug distribution and sexual assault…
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Colorado appellate judges, lawyers hold annual conference | APPELLATE UPDATE
Appellate judges and attorneys gathered in Denver on Friday to discuss recent trends, exchange tips and clarify confusing areas of practice. “One of the things I really had to focus on, coming from the trial court, is that my inclination before was to make sure things are raised and people were getting their questions answered.…
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Appeals court finds Prowers County judge incorrectly analyzed firetruck collision lawsuit
Colorado’s second-highest court directed a Prowers County judge last month to take a second look at whether a firetruck operator and the county itself can be held liable for a collision with a motorist. Donald Williamson was driving through a green light in Lamar when he crashed into a firetruck operated by John Owens Jr.…
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Colorado justices side with news organizations for disclosure of high-level child abuse data
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the state must disclose the number of child abuse reports at individual group living facilities in response to an open records request, as the addresses are already in the public domain. The justices agreed that the Court of Appeals erred in resolving the case. But beyond that,…
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The influencers? Some Colorado appeals judges outpace colleagues in setting legal precedent
A handful of judges on Colorado’s second-highest court are producing substantially more precedent-setting opinions than their colleagues, which create binding interpretations of the law that reach beyond individual cases. The Court of Appeals issues approximately 1,700 opinions each year. A small number receives state Supreme Court review, but the appellate court is otherwise the final…
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Colorado justices skeptical of appellate court’s limitation on prosecution’s appeal
The Colorado Supreme Court seemed skeptical on Tuesday that Denver prosecutors should be barred from appealing a trial judge’s permanent dismissal of a criminal case, based upon the sequence of events after the original ruling. Prosecutors charged Quinn M. Jebe with offenses relating to drug distribution and sexual assault on a child. In July 2023,…
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Appeals court declines to overturn defendant’s ‘3 strikes’ sentence
Colorado’s second-highest court concluded on Thursday that a defendant was sentenced under the state’s “three strikes” law in a manner that did not comply with the U.S. Constitution, but the mistake did not require reversal. Known as the Habitual Criminal Act, Colorado’s law requires judges to impose three or four times the maximum sentence if a…
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Divided appeals court upholds convictions despite ‘troubling and unfair’ contradictory police testimony
Colorado’s second-highest court upheld a man’s convictions for unlawful possession of a firearm on Thursday, even as the majority acknowledged it was potentially unfair that a Denver officer testified to a different sequence of events at trial than earlier in the case. Matthew Torres attempted to exclude from trial the evidence of a handgun in…
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Appeals court finds Wheat Ridge officer lacked probable cause to arrest defendant
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday concluded a Wheat Ridge officer lacked probable cause to arrest a man because the information suggesting criminal activity was too minimal to act upon. Corporal Jeremy Schmitz was patrolling a truck stop off of Interstate 70 when he encountered a Toyota 4Runner that a database identified as stolen. The vehicle…
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Colorado human services agency faces buzzsaw at state Supreme Court as justices critique non-disclosure argument
Several members of the Colorado Supreme Court pushed back on Monday against the state’s position that it could not disclose the number of child abuse reports at individual group living facilities because doing so would improperly reveal a person’s address — even though such addresses are already in the public domain. The Colorado Department of…