probable cause
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Durango officials immune from suit despite questions about probable cause, 10th Circuit rules
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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Federal judge denies immunity to Denver officer sued for false arrest, retaliation
A federal judge has declined to dismiss a lawsuit alleging a Denver police officer arrested a man without probable cause of a crime and retaliated against him when the man asked a bystander to record the interaction. John Collins claimed Officer Austin Barela approached him while he was working to fix a car, then badgered…
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Federal judge finds Montrose County deputy did not unlawfully seize 33 guns
A Montrose County sheriff’s deputy had probable cause to search a Cimarron home and seize 33 firearms based on information she learned about one of the home’s occupants, a federal judge ruled on Monday. Anna Dulaney, the owner of the home, sued Deputy Angela Grubbs for an alleged Fourth Amendment violation, arguing Grubbs’ application for a…
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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…
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Judge finds no constitutional violation by Englewood officer who arrested man filming encounter
A federal judge concluded on Thursday that an Englewood police officer did not violate the constitutional rights of a man by arresting him after he attempted to video record the officer from a public sidewalk. Five months ago, the federal appeals court with jurisdiction over Colorado recognized for the first time that the First Amendment…
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Unlawful arrest, questionable evidence leads to reversal of Pitkin County man’s convictions
A Pitkin County judge improperly allowed evidence stemming from an unlawful arrest to be used at trial, and did not correctly instruct the jury about how to use a different set of evidence, the state’s Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday. The three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals that reviewed Jeremiah Daniel Casper’s case…
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Judge finds Parker man cannot sue Aurora, officer for wrongful arrest
A Parker man may not proceed to sue the city of Aurora and one of its officers for being wrongfully arrested for a theft he did not commit, a federal judge has decided. U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico, while simultaneously finding Darren Rucker had not presented a viable claim against Aurora for the…
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Judge refuses to toss $500,000 jury verdict against Denver officer over wrongful arrest at DIA
A federal judge upheld a jury’s $500,000 verdict and finding of liability against a Denver police officer whose faulty probable cause statement led to the wrongful arrest of a man at Denver International Airport. After a jury earlier this year determined Officer Karl Coleman acted maliciously when he erroneously wrote on legal paperwork that Juan…
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Appeals court endorses daily searches of Denver student under ‘safety plan’
Colorado’s second-highest court has found Denver school security officials acted lawfully by continuing their daily searches of a student with a prior handgun offense, even when the “safety plan” enabling the searches had no expiration date. It has been nearly four decades since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in-school searches do not require probable cause…
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Boulder asks 10th Circuit to overturn multimillion-dollar jury verdict
After a federal judge determined that the evidence and the law supported a jury’s multimillion-dollar verdict against the City of Boulder for failing to train its police officers, the city is hoping the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit will overturn that decision. Last October, a seven-member jury decided after a weeklong trial…