judge patricia herron
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Douglas County judge violated defendant’s right to counsel at sentencing, appeals court finds
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A Douglas County judge violated a defendant’s constitutional right to the counsel of her choice by refusing to postpone sentencing until her lawyer returned to the country, Colorado’s second-highest court concluded on Wednesday. In early 2023, Lyndie J. Felsher received a three-year sentence in community corrections after pleading guilty to a felony drunk driving offense.…
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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 Supreme Court to hear case about relevance of consensual bondage activity
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The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will review whether evidence of a defendant’s recent plans for BDSM activity with his alleged victim was relevant to his theory that he did not intend to cause serious bodily injury. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to take up a case…
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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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Prosecutorial misconduct, error-prone judge’s decision prompt appeals court to overturn homicide conviction
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Misconduct by two prosecutors and a Douglas County judge’s decision to bar crucial testimony prompted Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday to reverse a woman’s vehicular homicide conviction. Jurors convicted Jennifer Lea Woodruff of killing her coworker, Christopher Roberts, in a car accident along Interstate 25. The defense’s theory was that Woodruff’s medical condition caused her…
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Colorado justices nudge legislature to take action to combat racial bias in jury selection
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In a major pair of decisions on Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court simultaneously found Arapahoe County prosecutors provided non-racial reasons for removing jurors of color from two criminal trials, but that judges failed to adequately determine whether those reasons were credible. Further, three of the seven justices, with seeming support from the other four, suggested…
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Ex-Douglas County judge’s errors stack up as appeals court reverses another conviction
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Colorado’s second-highest court last week overturned a Douglas County defendant’s convictions because of an error by former District Court Judge Patricia Herron, continuing a pattern of reversals in her cases. Herron retired late last year, having been an 18th Judicial District Court judge since 2016. Earlier in her career, she worked in the Colorado Attorney…
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Colorado Supreme Court upholds Arapahoe County murder, drug convictions
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Even if an Arapahoe County judge was wrong to combine a defendant’s drug and murder charges in one trial, the move did not likely affect the jury’s verdict, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday. Joseph Wayne Washington argued there should have been separate trials for his murder charge and for the other counts largely…
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Appeals court overturns restitution order due to Douglas County judge’s extreme delay
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday overturned a Douglas County judge’s order for $12,500 in crime victim restitution, which she issued nearly two years after the defendant’s sentencing and several months after the state Supreme Court told trial judges to pay attention to the 91-day deadline in the law. Before the Court of Appeals, both the…
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Appeals court overturns restitution order due to Douglas County judge’s extreme delay
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday overturned a Douglas County judge’s order for $12,500 in crime victim restitution, which she issued nearly two years after the defendant’s sentencing and several months after the state Supreme Court told trial judges to pay attention to the 91-day deadline in the law. Before the Court of Appeals, both the…
