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Colorado Supreme Court overrules itself on felony DUI, makes it harder for defendants to challenge convictions
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The Colorado Supreme Court took the unusual step on Monday of partially overruling its own landmark decision from less than four years ago, concluding drunk drivers who were not tried in accordance with state law are not entitled to automatic reversal of their convictions. The court’s majority also clarified that when settled law changes during…
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Colorado justices consider how changes in law should benefit defendants on appeal
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When the Colorado Supreme Court decided in late 2020 that defendants charged with felony drunk driving offenses were being tried and convicted contrary to the law’s design, it resulted in the reversal of many DUI convictions on appeal. The government argued against overturning the conviction of one affected defendant, Charles James Crabtree, because the trial court’s…
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Colorado Supreme Court ponders role of juries in evaluating prior convictions
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More than two years ago, when the Colorado Supreme Court found that juries, not judges, must decide if people accused of felony drunk driving are repeat offenders, it prompted defendants found guilty of other offenses to wonder whether their own prior convictions were something prosecutors must prove to juries beyond a reasonable doubt. In two…
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State Supreme Court takes up 2 drunk driving appeals, case about campus sexual misconduct
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The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review three appeals that implicate the state’s drunk driving laws and the legal obligation of universities to conduct fair investigations into alleged sexual misconduct. At least three of the court’s seven members must consent to review a case. One appeal raises yet another angle in the long-running fallout…
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Divided state Supreme Court says juries may hear defendants’ drunk driving histories
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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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State Supreme Court continues to ponder headaches of DUI ruling
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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…
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State Supreme Court to examine foreclosure timeline, narrowly turns down DUI appeals
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The Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court’s ruling that banks and mortgage lenders argue gives an improper incentive to rapidly foreclose on certain homeowners. On Monday, the justices announced they will hear the case of U.S. Bank National Association v. Silvernagel, which centers on Colorado’s six-year statute of limitations for lenders to foreclose…
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Appeals court says man representing himself was not crazy, but ‘sovereign citizen’
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While all parties agreed that Charles James Crabtree had acted bizarrely throughout his drunken-driving case, Colorado’s second-highest court determined it was not mental illness, but rather Crabtree’s belief in the “sovereign citizen” movement that motivated his aberrant behavior. The state’s Court of Appeals consequently declined to overturn Crabtree’s conviction for driving under the influence, even…
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State Supreme Court agrees to interpret felony animal cruelty, sex offender registration laws
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Colorado’s Supreme Court has agreed to interpret whether two state laws, criminalizing cruelty to animals and the failure to register as a sex offender, permit convictions to be transformed into felonies upon a judge’s findings alone, or if a jury must make that decision. Both cases came through the state’s Court of Appeals, where separate…
