judge rebecca freyre
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Adams County waited too long to challenge DIA’s noise modeling system, Colorado justices rule
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Adams County and its municipalities waited two decades too long to sue Denver over its failure to use a noise monitoring system at Denver International Airport, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday, permitting the continued use of an outdated and inaccurate method for modeling noise instead. The ruling comes at a time of significant…
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Colorado Supreme Court upholds ability of defense lawyers to abandon clients’ claims without consent
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The Colorado Supreme Court made it easier on Monday for criminal defense lawyers seeking postconviction relief on behalf of their clients to abandon any claims they wish, even over the client’s objection. Noting courts have long treated trial lawyers as the “captain of the ship,” the Supreme Court clarified that defense attorneys appointed to pursue…
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COVID-19 pandemic justified police not offering DUI breath tests, appeals court rules
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday agreed that a police department’s decision not to offer suspected drunk drivers the choice of a breath test at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic did not violate state law. Although it was not the first Court of Appeals ruling to address the issue, it was the first to set…
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Arapahoe County jurors disregarded instructions, gave incoherent murder verdict, appeals court finds
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Colorado’s second-highest court agreed last month that Arapahoe County jurors disobeyed their instructions, produced a verdict that did not make sense and, as a result, the defendant’s murder conviction must be overturned. However, the three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals disagreed over who bore the most blame for the contradictory verdict and whether Jacob Alexander…
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Colorado justices ponder defendants’ ‘informed consent’ when challenging convictions
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When a criminal defendant asks for postconviction relief, for reasons like new evidence or ineffective assistance from counsel, Colorado’s procedural rules require judges to forward any petition that seems viable to an appointed defense lawyer to investigate or add claims, then to decide whether the defendant deserves relief. But what happens when an appointed attorney…
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Appeals court overturns organized crime conviction, finds no constitutional violation
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday reversed a man’s organized crime conviction in Douglas County in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent directive about how a criminal “enterprise” must be proven. At the same time, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals rejected Chauncey Price’s argument that his dual convictions for child pimping and…
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Boulder County judge, prosecutor blew past deadline, appeals court finds in voiding restitution
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday erased the $3,157 a man convicted of burglary owed to his victims because a Boulder County judge and prosecutor disregarded the deadline in state law for ordering restitution. The same day, the Court of Appeals also overturned another defendant’s obligation to pay $17,360 in restitution, again because a trial judge did…
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Colorado Supreme Court wary of letting Adams County sue Denver over airport noise monitoring
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Three years after a trial judge concluded Denver breached its agreement with Adams County to use a monitoring system for reporting excessive noise levels at Denver International Airport, the Colorado Supreme Court is weighing whether Adams County actually missed its opportunity to sue – by 20 years. The airport opened in 1995 after Denver annexed 55…
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Appeals court confirms Arapahoe County judge’s bias did not affect parenting case
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Although a former Arapahoe County judge admitted to racial bias and received a high-profile public censure two years ago for her misconduct, Colorado’s second-highest court agreed there was no evidence Natalie T. Chase harbored bias against a Hispanic father specifically when she terminated his parental rights. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals decided…
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Denver police failed to provide Miranda warning to suspect, appeals court finds
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Colorado’s second-highest court agreed last week that a suspect was both in custody and subject to interrogation, meaning Denver police needed to provide a Miranda warning for his statements to be admissible at trial. However, the three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals simultaneously found Dalani D. Bland’s comments to police about a bar fight…
