jury instruction
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Appeals court reverses Jeffco assault convictions due to omitted jury instruction
Colorado’s second-highest court agreed last month that a Jefferson County defendant’s assault convictions could not stand because his jury should have been allowed to consider whether he used force against a bar patron to defend his girlfriend from inappropriate touching. While the testimony conflicted and the surveillance video was not conclusive, jurors heard that Scott…
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Colorado Supreme Court upholds child abuse convictions despite faulty jury instruction
The Colorado Supreme Court decided on Monday that a San Miguel County jury properly convicted a defendant of child abuse resulting in death, even though the instructions potentially allowed jurors to avoid finding that the child abuse resulted in death. The court agreed unanimously that the jury instructions for finding Madani Ceus guilty of a…
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Colorado court upholds murder conviction despite jury disobeying instructions
Colorado’s second-highest court upheld an Arapahoe County defendant’s murder conviction last month, even though jurors found he was not the one who shot the victim and the evidence suggested he was not present for the shooting. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel previously determined that jurors in Jacob Alexander Shockey’s trial disobeyed their instructions and…
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Colorado justices skeptical of defendant’s challenge to flawed jury instruction
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court appeared willing to uphold a defendant’s vehicular eluding conviction on Tuesday, suggesting that an incorrectly worded jury instruction was not an obvious and harmful error in light of the defense’s choice not to dispute the evidence. A Denver jury convicted Jeffery Sloan of killing Yasir Hasan and Mark Karla by running…
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Divided appeals court reverses assault conviction over insufficient guidance about paramedics’ authority
Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a defendant’s conviction last week for assaulting a paramedic, concluding that a Denver judge needed to give jurors additional information about the duties that paramedics are legally authorized to carry out. Two paramedics were attempting to take Chakib E. Ez-Zahir to a hospital against his will. After one paramedic blocked his…
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Divided appeals court reverses murder convictions due to faulty self-defense instruction
Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last week that an incomplete self-defense instruction required the reversal of an El Paso County defendant’s murder convictions. Demetrius Montez Martin was among those present late at night at a club in Colorado Springs. An argument ensued and Martin got in his vehicle and drove off. Someone fired multiple gunshots in…
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Colorado justices weigh potentially faulty jury instruction in child abuse case
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court questioned on Tuesday whether a San Miguel County jury convicted a defendant of child abuse resulting in death, even though the instructions potentially allowed jurors to avoid finding that the child abuse resulted in death. Previously, the state’s Court of Appeals reversed the convictions and 64-year prison sentence of…
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Appeals court orders new menacing trial after faulty self-defense instruction
Colorado’s second-highest court ordered a new trial last week for an El Paso County defendant convicted of felony menacing, concluding an erroneous self-defense instruction may have influenced the verdict. Under Colorado law, self-defense is an affirmative defense, meaning the prosecution must disprove at least one component in addition to proving the underlying offense. Judges are…
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Appeals judge believes revised ‘reasonable doubt’ definition is unconstitutional
Although Colorado’s second-highest court has issued multiple decisions in recent months upholding a revised definition of “reasonable doubt” from three years ago, an appellate judge became the first on Thursday to argue that a key phrase violates defendants’ constitutional right to due process. Judge Michael H. Berger warned that, in his view, it is problematic…
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Appeals court overturns road rage murder conviction due to faulty jury instruction
Colorado’s second-highest court overturned a defendant’s murder conviction on Thursday, concluding an Arapahoe County judge provided an incorrect self-defense instruction to the jury about the road rage encounter. In November 2020, Romeo Desean Thompson was behind Phillip Hunt at an intersection. The light turned green, but Hunt did not immediately move forward. Thompson honked, after…