parole
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Internal appeals of parole revocation must come before judicial review, Colorado justices conclude
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last month that criminal defendants whose parole is revoked must appeal the decision internally to the state’s parole board before seeking review by a judge. The process for returning someone to incarceration for violating the conditions of their parole first entails a hearing by one member of the Colorado State…
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Appeals court divided over effect of retroactive sentence on parole calculation
Colorado’s second-highest court grappled last week with the framework for calculating a defendant’s earliest possible parole date in light of two intersecting legal principles — a judge’s ability to make an order retroactive, and the requirement that separate, simultaneous sentences be treated as one continuous sentence. By 2-1, a three-judge Court of Appeals panel decided…
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Colorado policymakers scramble with prisons on track to exceed capacity
Colorado’s prison system is on track to exceed capacity within the next year, driven by a sharp slowdown in parole releases, staffing shortages and an aging inmate population — all as lawmakers grapple with an $800 million general fund shortfall that limits options for expanding beds or spending in alternative programs. If projections hold, the…
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Colorado justices question process for parole board appeals
The Colorado Supreme Court considered on Tuesday whether criminal defendants whose parole is revoked must appeal the decision internally to the state’s parole board before seeking review by a judge. The process for returning someone to incarceration for violating the conditions of their parole first entails a hearing by one member of the Colorado State…
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Colorado acknowledges failure to begin parole revocation proceedings against man who caused fatal crash
State corrections officers failed to follow policy after they learned that Christopher Moore – the man at the center of a police chase and fatal crash on Tuesday – was arrested in June on felony charges nine days after he was paroled out of the Colorado prison system, 9NEWS Investigates has learned. That arrest should have triggered an…
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Colorado Supreme Court accepts cases on parole revocation, debt collection
The Colorado Supreme Court recently announced it will decide whether people must appeal their revocation of parole to the parole board itself, or if they can seek judicial review directly. At least three of the seven members must agree to hear a case on appeal. The justices also will decide whether a debt collection company…
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Colorado justices reject unusual appeal by analogy in community corrections sentencing case
The Colorado Supreme Court concluded on Tuesday that state law did not entitle a man to receive credit for the time he spent in non-residential community corrections, notwithstanding the court’s own 34-year-old analogy suggesting a deduction was possible. When Ryan Wallace Bonde was terminated from a non-residential community corrections program and resentenced to prison, his…
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Colorado justices consider 33-year-old analogy’s impact on community corrections sentences
The Colorado Supreme Court pondered an unusual question on Wednesday: When a previous decision relied on an analogy, but the circumstances of the analogy have since changed, is the prior decision still valid? Ryan Wallace Bonde’s appeal to the Supreme Court explores whether Bonde’s time in non-residential community corrections can be deducted from the prison…
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After hearing from Colorado’s justices, 10th Circuit rules defendant cannot challege parole eligibility — yet
The federal appeals court based in Denver ruled on Monday that a defendant who is serving a potential life sentence for crimes he committed as a 15 year old cannot pursue a constitutional challenge now to any future decision about his parole eligibility. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit reached its decision…
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Appeals court says man cannot escape conviction for attempting to influence public servant by blaming mom
Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday that the crime of attempting to influence a public servant does not require the defendant to personally be the one making the deceptive statement. In answering the question for the first time, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals upheld a man’s conviction despite his effort to blame…