jury instructions
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‘Pick your battles’: Federal judge walks lawyers through do’s and don’ts of jury instructions
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Jury instructions should be relevant, accurate, brief and understandable. Those were the key points emphasized by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Christine M. Arguello on Friday during a presentation to lawyers at the federal courthouse in downtown Denver. She said the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and prompted her to speak publicly about the…
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Judges warn about bias in courtrooms, legal profession
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During his career as a lawyer, Denver District Court Judge Jon J. Olafson, who is gay, would get singled out as “the party planner.” Karen Steinhauser, a lawyer and Aurora Municipal Court relief judge, was once called up to a judge’s bench by herself, only to be told, “You look really lovely today.” “When we…
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Colorado appeals court reverses Adams County murder conviction due to judge’s faulty analogy
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday once again overturned a defendant’s conviction because an Adams County judge illustrated reasonable doubt to jurors in a way that improperly lessened the prosecution’s burden to prove him guilty. The Court of Appeals has repeatedly reversed the convictions of defendants for more than a year – exclusively from Adams County – after the Colorado Supreme Court decided last January that some…
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Prosecutors, defense lawyers blindsided by new ‘reasonable doubt’ instruction
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Colorado’s prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys were caught off guard on Friday by a small judicial committee’s quiet change to the longstanding definition of “beyond a reasonable doubt” in the template instructions for jury trials. While prosecutors appeared cautiously supportive of the rewrite, defense lawyers condemned the sudden move. The Model Criminal Jury Instructions Committee,…
