justice brian boatright
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When is a grandparent a grandparent? Colorado justices weigh visitation rights dispute
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Under Colorado law, a grandparent is a person “who is the parent of a child’s father or mother.” On Tuesday, members of the Colorado Supreme Court heard the argument that the word “is” is crucial to understanding what should happen when the mother and father are no longer alive. “Under the plain definition, you say…
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Colorado justices allow sentences of probation after prison, even though prison-plus-probation illegal
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Even though the Colorado Supreme Court ruled five years ago that sentences of prison plus probation are illegal, the justices decided on Monday that judges were permitted to fix those sentences by imposing basically the same punishment. In its 2019 decision of Allman v. People, the Supreme Court ruled that state law treats probation as an…
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Colorado justices consider 33-year-old analogy’s impact on community corrections sentences
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The Colorado Supreme Court pondered an unusual question on Wednesday: When a previous decision relied on an analogy, but the circumstances of the analogy have since changed, is the prior decision still valid? Ryan Wallace Bonde’s appeal to the Supreme Court explores whether Bonde’s time in non-residential community corrections can be deducted from the prison…
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Lakewood police acted unconstitutionally in using drug detection dog, Supreme Court rules by 5-2
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Lakewood police violated the constitutional prohibition on unreasonable searches by ensuring a driver’s door remained open so a drug detection dog could sniff inside the vehicle without probable cause, the Colorado Supreme Court concluded on Monday. In the 5-2 decision, all justices agreed with the principle that law enforcement conducts a search if they “facilitate”…
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2024 closes period of turnover on Colorado’s bench | YEAR IN REVIEW
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New faces, new initiatives and a new judicial discipline process were among the developments in the third branch of government this year. Although much of the public’s focus was on the battle for the White House and Congress, several stories implicating the courts will have reverberations for years to come. Here is a look at…
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Colorado Supreme Court says license plate corresponding to other vehicle is grounds for stopping driver
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An Adams County deputy’s discovery that the license plates on a vehicle were registered to another car provided him the reasonable suspicion required to detain the driver, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday. However, the justices stopped short of deeming the subsequent vehicle search constitutional, as the trial judge had not yet evaluated whether…
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Colorado justices weigh unique defense to murder for non-triggermen
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Some members of the Colorado Supreme Court on Wednesday signaled their agreement with the notion that a defendant need not admit to committing an underlying offense in order to assert a defense to the more serious crime of felony murder. Felony murder is a unique offense, in which a defendant is guilty if he participates in…
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3 Colorado justices shrug off Trump decision, scandal fallout to cruise to retention
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Three Colorado Supreme Court justices easily won their retention elections on Tuesday, brushing off a recent controversial decision to disqualify the Republican presidential candidate and disapproval of how the court handled a contracting scandal. Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez, Justice Brian D. Boatright and Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter were poised to secure new 10-year terms,…