misdemeanor
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Appeals court agrees municipal domestic violence conviction is grounds for denying gun purchase
Colorado’s second-highest court ruled for the first time last week that a domestic violence conviction under a municipal ordinance will bar a person from purchasing a firearm, thanks to a recent revision in federal law. The question required a three-judge Court of Appeals panel to answer whether a Denver man’s local domestic violence charge, while…
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Colorado Supreme Court rejects expanded role for juries in analyzing prior convictions
The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the argument that juries should be the ones who increase the severity of a defendant’s convictions by evaluating prior convictions – meaning judges alone retain the authority to transform a misdemeanor into a felony in some instances. The question of whether juries should decide beyond a reasonable doubt whether…
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Felony status for indecent exposure in front of children passes Colorado legislature
Indecent exposure is the only child sex crime in Colorado classified as a misdemeanor, instead of a felony. But that will soon change if Gov. Jared Polis signs a new bill into law. House Bill 1135 would make it a felony crime if a person over the age of 18 exposes or touches their genitals for…
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‘I was different and they didn’t want that’: Judge’s approach collides with voters’ expectations of justice | COVER STORY
In January 2021, La Plata County Court Judge Anne K. Woods presided over an emotionally-fraught sentencing hearing: Preston Edward Pitcher, a church leader, pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor offenses after sexually abusing young adults whom he groomed as children. Despite the option to impose jail time, Woods opted against incarcerating Pitcher for 60 days and…
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Divided appeals court finds man’s 5-year sentence reasonable for now-misdemeanor crime
Colorado’s second-highest court last week upheld the 62-month prison sentence of a man who escaped to Arizona while on parole in 2018, even though the offense would now result in a maximum of 120 days in jail. By a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals found Jonathan Scott Story was not…