lakewood
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Appeals court directs Jeffco judge to reconsider releasing man’s car from Lakewood police custody
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Colorado’s second-highest court last week directed a Jefferson County judge to reconsider a man’s request for Lakewood police to return his car, which the city declined to release even after his criminal case was resolved. Police arrested Kameron Murphy in September 2022 and charged him with tampering with the body of his recently deceased girlfriend,…
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Lakewood must release police body cam footage of teen’s fatal shooting, appeals court rules
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Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last week that Lakewood is obligated to release body-worn camera footage of police fatally shooting a 17-year-old girl, notwithstanding her surviving family’s objections. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel interpreted a key transparency requirement in Colorado’s landmark police accountability law from 2020. Judge Timothy J. Schutz wrote that legislators crafted “a…
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Colorado Supreme Court ponders whether Lakewood violated TABOR in expanding phone provider tax
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Members of the Colorado Supreme Court considered on Tuesday whether Lakewood violated the state constitution by expanding the scope of a 1969 tax ordinance twice in the last three decades to encompass cell phone providers — but without holding a popular vote. A Jefferson County judge believed the city’s actions failed to comply with the 1992…
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10th Circuit says Lakewood sergeant has immunity for fatally shooting man in burning basement
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The Denver-based federal appeals court agreed on Thursday that a Lakewood police sergeant did not violate a man’s constitutional rights by shooting and killing him while trying to evacuate him from a burning basement. Jason Waterhouse was behaving erratically when he barricaded himself in the basement of his sister’s home, then started a fire while…
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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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Jeffco murder conviction overturned after appeals court finds police unconstitutionally accessed cell phone
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A man serving a life sentence for murder will receive a new trial after Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last week that law enforcement unconstitutionally used a “shortcut” to unlock his phone in time for his original trial. In reaching its conclusion, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals rejected the idea that a cell…
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10th Circuit dismisses excessive force lawsuit over Lakewood police’s ‘ambush’ of man
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The federal appeals court based in Denver dismissed an excessive force lawsuit earlier this month from a man who alleged Lakewood police hid outside his home, failed to identify themselves as law enforcement, then shot him. In Eric St. George’s telling, police officers planted themselves outside his building close to midnight and called him multiple…
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Colorado Supreme Court to hear cases on Weld County redistricting, Xcel electrocution
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The Colorado Supreme Court announced recently that it will hear appeals in multiple cases, including whether Weld County must follow state law when drawing new legislative districts and when utilities may be held liable for injuries caused by their power lines. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to take up a…
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Colorado Supreme Court upholds man’s child enticement conviction
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The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday concluded the state’s second-highest court wrongly overturned a man’s Jefferson County conviction for a child sex offense, determining the evidence was sufficient after all to find him guilty. James Clayton Johnson is serving six years to life in prison after jurors convicted him of enticement. The offense requires someone to…
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Colorado lawmakers eye $2 billion budget hike amid deficit, courts tackle unique case of West African man accused of torture in Gambia, Colorado rejects drilling ban | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Today is April 1, 2024, and here’s what you need to know: Colorado lawmakers this month began reviewing the state’s spending plan for the next fiscal year in the face of tight revenues and a budget deficit – even as policymakers are pushing for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding requests. Only a tight…
