judge timothy schutz
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Divided appeals court upholds judge’s decade-old violation of restitution law
Colorado’s second-highest court turned aside a defendant’s challenge earlier this month to a judge’s decade-old order that he pay $28,518 in crime victim restitution, even though the judge failed to comply with state law in doing so. In Colorado, as part of sentencing, judges must consider whether defendants owe financial restitution to their victims. If so,…
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Colorado’s new ‘reasonable doubt’ instruction upheld, despite cautions from some appeals judges
Colorado’s second-highest court has upheld the recently reworded definition of “reasonable doubt” that appears in the template jury instructions for criminal trials, which generated controversy at the time of its debut. In a pair of precedent-setting opinions issued the same day last week, two separate panels for the Court of Appeals found no legal deficiency…
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Colorado Supreme Court skeptical of broad municipal power to permit violations of state noise limits
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court attempted on Thursday to decipher a 38-year-old amendment to the state’s noise pollution law to determine if local governments may permit any for-profit entity to host events on private property that exceed the statewide decibel limits. In doing so, multiple justices were openly skeptical of the city of Salida’s…
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Appeals court agrees municipal domestic violence conviction is grounds for denying gun purchase
Colorado’s second-highest court ruled for the first time last week that a domestic violence conviction under a municipal ordinance will bar a person from purchasing a firearm, thanks to a recent revision in federal law. The question required a three-judge Court of Appeals panel to answer whether a Denver man’s local domestic violence charge, while…
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Supreme Court justice, appeals judge spar over authority to decide issues | APPELLATE UPDATE
One of Colorado’s Supreme Court justices and a member of the Court of Appeals debated on Friday about how far appellate judges should go when deciding cases using reasons that are different from the ones the litigants argued in court. Justice Richard L. Gabriel described the “party presentation principle” as stemming from the idea that…
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Appeals court finds Denver judge relied on unsupported facts to restrict man’s parenting time
Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last week that a Denver judge made “clearly erroneous” findings about a father’s sobriety and his request for parenting time when she imposed strict conditions on visitations with his children. Following a virtual April 2024 hearing in which both parents were without a lawyer, then-District Court Judge Jennifer Torrington issued an…
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Appeals court rules dead witness’s prior testimony may be used in criminal case
Colorado’s second-highest court clarified for the first time last week that a witness who testifies in a civil case, but who dies before a related criminal case goes to trial, may have their testimony used in the criminal proceedings. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel concluded that if the criminal defendant had a “full, fair,…
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Colorado Supreme Court weighs Xcel’s liability for man’s electrocution
The Colorado Supreme Court appeared hesitant on Tuesday to endorse the idea that the state’s utility regulator could use a rate-setting document to broadly immunize a company from liability against electrocutions. Francisco Cuevas, the owner of Outdoor Design Landscaping, was hanging Christmas lights at a Lakewood woman’s home in late 2017 when he received a debilitating…
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Colorado justices to hear cases on defendant who blamed mom, car rental companies as insurers
The Colorado Supreme Court announced last week that it will analyze whether a person can be convicted of attempting to influence a public servant when they enlist another party to perform the deceit, and whether vehicle rental companies can be held legally liable as insurers when they choose to offer insurance policies. At least three…
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Appeals judge slams Denver prosecutor for ‘Dexter’ references at trial
One member of Colorado’s second-highest court criticized a Denver prosecutor on Thursday for repeatedly comparing a defendant’s actions to the television show “Dexter” during a jury trial. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals declined to order a new murder trial for defendant Joseph Alden Corey. The majority conceded the prosecutor’s references to a…