larimer county
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Appeals judge urges lawmakers to revisit careless driving law
Colorado’s second-highest court agreed on Thursday that state law only authorized a single criminal sentence for a man whose careless driving resulted in the deaths of two people, and not the two sentences a Larimer County judge originally imposed. Judge Steve Bernard, a member of the three-judge Court of Appeals panel that decided the case,…
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Federal judge refuses to dismiss claims against Colorado state troopers for alleged wrongful arrest
A federal judge on Tuesday slammed the Colorado Attorney General’s Office’s attempt to minimize the behavior of two state troopers, who allegedly arrested a man without probable cause and ridiculed him because he was a Mexican citizen who did not speak English well. Trooper Jeremy Sugai and Corporal Joshua Curtis participated in the arrest of…
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Appeals court says Larimer County judge wrongly forced DA to prosecute assault
A Larimer County judge wrongly applied an unusual Colorado law when he overruled a decision by the district attorney’s office to not prosecute one participant in a multi-person brawl, the state’s second-highest court ruled last week. Colorado is one of four states that allows judges to review prosecutors’ decisions not to charge someone suspected of…
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Colorado appeals court overturns conviction for Larimer County judge’s faulty instruction
In a rare move, both the prosecution and defense agreed the state’s Court of Appeals should overturn a man’s assault conviction because a Larimer County judge incorrectly instructed jurors about self-defense. Consequently, a three-judge appellate panel on Thursday ordered a new trial for Anthony John Trimarco, who is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence. In criminal…
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Colorado’s justices to review whether lawyers may abandon clients’ claims
Can attorneys representing defendants who are challenging their criminal convictions discard certain claims without their clients’ informed consent? The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday it will review the question after the state’s Court of Appeals last year decided a Larimer County judge was wrong to assume a defendant’s lawyer had abandoned some of her client’s…
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Divided state Supreme Court says juries may hear defendants’ drunk driving histories
A majority of the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that juries must learn about a defendant’s prior drunk driving offenses at the same time they hear the current allegations of drunk driving, over the strenuous objection of three justices who said the move all but ensures a conviction will occur. By 4-3, the Supreme…
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$10,000 contribution to county commissioner did not require recusal, appeals court says
A Larimer County judge was wrong to conclude a county commissioner needed to recuse himself from a land-use vote in which one of the parties was responsible for nearly 20% of his campaign contributions, the state’s Court of Appeals has ruled. District Court Judge Juan G. Villaseñor believed Coulson Excavating Company, Inc. had effectively chosen its own judge…
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Judge says man cannot sue Larimer County, caseworker for inclusion in child abuse database
Even though Larimer County’s own description of the incident showed Mark Howshar played no role in the alleged May 2021 abuse of a child, a federal judge last month decided Howshar could not sue the county or one of its caseworkers for placing him into the state’s child abuse database. U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael E.…
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Appeals court sides with restrictive interpretation of open records law
Colorado’s second-highest court has settled on a narrower interpretation of the state’s open records law, deciding a former paralegal for the city of Loveland could not have access to emails in which she was the subject. A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals last month reversed a Larimer County judge who believed that even…
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State Supreme Court continues to ponder headaches of DUI ruling
Colorado’s Supreme Court justices this week once again heard about the difficulties they created by upending prosecutions of felony drunk driving cases nearly two years ago. Although driving under the influence in Colorado is typically a misdemeanor, the legislature in 2015 established a felony DUI offense for people who have at least three prior drunk…