kidnapping
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Defense lawyer’s sarcasm did not indicate ineffective assistance, appeals court says
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Colorado’s second-highest court last month rejected a defendant’s argument that his trial lawyer had essentially told jurors he was guilty, when it instead appeared the lawyer was speaking sarcastically. El Paso County prosecutors charged David Donis in 2007 with numerous criminal offenses, including kidnapping, burglary and assault. Jurors convicted him and Donis is serving life…
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Appeals court rebuffs Alamosa County judge for flippant denial of sentence reduction
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An Alamosa County judge’s single-sentence explanation denying a defendant’s request for a sentence reduction – that it was “not well taken” – was itself not well taken by Colorado’s second-highest court. Prosecutors originally charged Desiree Lee Espinoza with multiple serious offenses, including attempted murder and assault. She pleaded guilty to kidnaping and received a 16-year prison sentence…
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Colorado appeals court orders El Paso County judge to reopen case of man serving 100+ years
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Colorado’s second-highest court last week ordered an El Paso County judge to hold a hearing on an incarcerated man’s claim that he received constitutionally-ineffective assistance of counsel, based on his trial lawyer’s decision not to call multiple witnesses who would have corroborated the defendant’s alibi. Antonio Jose Vargas Jr. is serving a 96-year sentence for…
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In 2-1 decision, appeals court upholds man’s conviction for threatening judge
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A man was properly convicted for telling a judge that he would “kidnap your daughter,” the state’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday, determining the comments were a threat under the law and not constitutionally-protected speech. The 2-1 decision from a panel of the Court of Appeals found that Adrian Jeremiah Brown had communicated an intent…
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State Supreme Court reverses kidnapping conviction due to faulty instruction
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It is not accurate to define kidnapping as any movement, “however short in distance,” the Colorado Supreme Court decided on Monday, reversing a man’s conviction because a Gilpin County judge wrongly instructed the jury. Under the law, someone who commits kidnapping seizes and carries a person from one place to another without their consent. But…
