preliminary hearing
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Colorado Supreme Court intervenes in 3 ongoing cases
The Colorado Supreme Court recently intervened in the prosecution of a juvenile defendant and will decide whether he is entitled to have prosecutors demonstrate probable cause at a hearing after a grand jury already determined probable cause existed. The justices also will determine whether a judge correctly ordered a defendant back into jail until he…
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Appeals court reinstates Garfield County arson charge
Colorado’s second-highest court reinstated a Garfield County defendant’s arson charge on Thursday, concluding a trial judge improperly credited a witness’s claim that she alone was responsible for starting the fire. A sheriff’s deputy responded to a brush fire near Parachute in May 2024, next to a residential neighborhood. Witness statements and video evidence suggested Tiana…
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Colorado justices raise eyebrows at Denver judge’s restrictions on juvenile defendant
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court appeared unnerved on Wednesday at the restrictions a Denver judge placed on a teenage defendant’s attempt to argue that he should be tried as a juvenile, not as an adult. Lawyers for Clayshjon Eugene Clark-Collins sought the Supreme Court’s intervention after his trial judge indicated he largely did not want…
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Colorado Supreme Court may address Denver juvenile prosecution, one man’s deluge of cases
The Colorado Supreme Court signaled last month that it may intervene in an ongoing criminal case against a defendant seeking to be tried as a juvenile, and potentially stop a man from continuing to sue the same group of people after a steady stream of judges has disposed of his claims. In the first case…
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Colorado Supreme Court recognizes defendants may appeal magistrates’ probable cause rulings
Addressing an issue never previously decided, the Colorado Supreme Court clarified on Monday that criminal defendants do have the right to appeal a magistrate’s decision that probable cause exists to hold a trial on the charged offenses. Colorado law provides for preliminary hearings, whose purpose is to screen out cases where prosecutors do not have probable…
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Colorado Supreme Court recognizes defendants may appeal magistrates’ probable cause rulings
Addressing an issue never previously decided, the Colorado Supreme Court clarified on Monday that criminal defendants do have the right to appeal a magistrate’s decision that probable cause exists to hold a trial on the charged offenses. Colorado law provides for preliminary hearings, whose purpose is to screen out cases where prosecutors do not have probable…
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Colorado Supreme Court recognizes defendants may appeal magistrates’ probable cause rulings
Addressing an issue never previously decided, the Colorado Supreme Court clarified on Monday that criminal defendants do have the right to appeal a magistrate’s decision that probable cause exists to hold a trial on the charged offenses. Colorado law provides for preliminary hearings, whose purpose is to screen out cases where prosecutors do not have probable…
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By 4-3, state Supreme Court blocks probable cause hearings for class of defendants
Even though all parties agreed John Robert Hacke will receive a mandatory prison sentence if convicted of identity theft, a majority of the Colorado Supreme Court decided on Monday that Hacke is not eligible for a hearing where he can challenge prosecutors’ evidence of probable cause. By 4-3, the Supreme Court found the requirement in…