menacing
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Appeals court orders new menacing trial after faulty self-defense instruction
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Colorado’s second-highest court ordered a new trial last week for an El Paso County defendant convicted of felony menacing, concluding an erroneous self-defense instruction may have influenced the verdict. Under Colorado law, self-defense is an affirmative defense, meaning the prosecution must disprove at least one component in addition to proving the underlying offense. Judges are…
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Mesa County judge wrong to conclude hatchet not a ‘knife,’ says appeals court
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Colorado’s second-highest court determined last week that a Mesa County judge incorrectly reduced a defendant’s menacing charge from a felony to a misdemeanor after finding his hatchet did not meet the definition of “knife.” A person commits menacing as a misdemeanor if they use threats or physical actions to place another person in fear of…
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Appeals court ‘reluctantly’ sides with Jeffco DA in disapproving judge’s self-defense ruling
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Colorado’s second-highest court, by 2-1, agreed last week that a Jefferson County judge should not have let jurors consider whether a defendant acted in self-defense at a trial that resulted in his acquittal for menacing a police officer. However, members of the three-judge Court of Appeals panel criticized District Attorney Alexis King’s office for bringing…
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Appeals court reverses Weld County robbery convictions due to unreliable witness ID
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Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a defendant’s convictions out of Weld County last week, concluding the victim’s identification was unreliable and may have been the product of police influence. In August 2019, a teenage pizza delivery driver was leaving his job. Just after he closed the door to his vehicle, a man opened it, told the…
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Colorado Springs officers to face civil trial for luring man out of home, chasing him inside prior to death
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A federal judge ruled last week that a jury will decide whether four Colorado Springs police officers violated a man’s constitutional rights by chasing him inside his home without a warrant and restraining him as he lay on the floor dying. Chad Alexander Burnett was mentally ill and allegedly behaving menacingly toward his neighbors. When…
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No probable cause hearing for defendant already in prison, appeals court says
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An El Paso County judge mistakenly dismissed a criminal charge against a man who was incarcerated out of state, Colorado’s second-highest court determined on Thursday, finding the judge incorrectly believed the defendant was entitled to a probable cause hearing. Colorado law gives suspects accused of serious felonies the right to a preliminary hearing, at which the…
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No probable cause hearing for defendant already in prison, appeals court says
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An El Paso County judge mistakenly dismissed a criminal charge against a man who was incarcerated out of state, Colorado’s second-highest court determined on Thursday, finding the judge incorrectly believed the defendant was entitled to a probable cause hearing. Colorado law gives suspects accused of serious felonies the right to a preliminary hearing, at which the…
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Durango officials immune from suit despite questions about probable cause, 10th Circuit rules
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The federal appeals court based in Denver acknowledged on Monday that there were “valid questions” about whether Durango police had probable cause to arrest a man, but ultimately awarded immunity to the officers and prosecutors for their unsuccessful criminal case against the suspect. Christopher Joe Clark alleged law enforcement should not have arrested him for…
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Guilty, yet innocent: Colorado justices examine requirements for unique type of plea
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In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court gave its approval to a special type of guilty plea, one in which a criminal defendant maintains his innocence while, at the same time, accepting a plea deal from the prosecution. Those “Alford pleas,” named after the case North Carolina v. Alford, are permissible when a defendant believes it is…
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Divided appeals court reinstates criminal charges after judge failed to order witnesses’ arrest
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In a divided ruling last week, Colorado’s second-highest court decided an El Paso County judge wrongly dismissed a criminal case when she should have instead issued warrants to arrest the witnesses who failed to appear. Given the circumstances in March 2021, which included COVID-19 restrictions on jury trials and the prosecution’s lack of evidence, then-District…
