menacing
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Appeals court reverses convictions after El Paso judge denied fair trial to defendant
An El Paso County judge misapplied the law and allowed harmful information to be heard at the defendant’s trial, Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last week in reversing the convictions of Israel Santillan Lopez. Further, the prosecution acknowledged Lopez was correct that District Court Judge Marcus Henson also omitted a key element of the crime of felony…
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Supreme Court gives Summit County judge unpaid suspension for criminal violation
Mark D. Thompson, a judge in the Fifth Judicial District who pleaded guilty this year to the misdemeanor offense of disorderly conduct, will receive a 30-day unpaid suspension for violating the judicial code of conduct with his actions. The Colorado Supreme Court issued its sanction on Monday in an unsigned opinion that imposed a rare…
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Appeals judge to law enforcement: Be wary of repeated failures to retain evidence
A judge on the state’s Court of Appeals has sent a stern warning to law enforcement following a series of missteps in Boulder County that resulted in a failure to retain or turn over evidence. Judge Lino S. Lipinsky de Orlov on Thursday authored a concurrence upholding William Robert Eason’s 2021 criminal conviction and finding…
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Appeals court declines to overturn convictions after jurors had contact with defendant’s family
Even though two Montezuma County jurors had contact with the defendant’s family during trial in a manner that made one juror feel “nervous” and “uneasy,” the state’s Court of Appeals has declined to reverse the convictions. As part of a criminal defendant’s right to a fair trial, jurors are prohibited from considering information that is…