rebecca freyre
-
Appeals court tosses defamation lawsuit against ex-Planned Parenthood exec for criticizing misleading videos
—
by
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday agreed the former chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains was correct to label a set of heavily-edited undercover videos as misleading, and her comments did not amount to defamation of the California-based abortion opponent who recorded the footage. A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals joined…
-
Colorado’s justices to review whether lawyers may abandon clients’ claims
—
by
Can attorneys representing defendants who are challenging their criminal convictions discard certain claims without their clients’ informed consent? The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday it will review the question after the state’s Court of Appeals last year decided a Larimer County judge was wrong to assume a defendant’s lawyer had abandoned some of her client’s…
-
Judge wrong to terminate mom’s parental rights without her or her lawyer present, appeals court says
—
by
The state’s Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed an Adams County judge who terminated a mother’s parental rights at a hearing in which neither she nor her attorney was present. A woman identified as J.L.S. gave birth to a child and within a week, Adams County initiated child welfare proceedings. The government then moved to…
-
Appeals court overturns domestic violence convictions, finds Denver judge violated law
—
by
A Denver judge did not follow the law when he sentenced a defendant as a habitual domestic violence offender instead of asking a jury to evaluate the man’s prior offenses, the state’s Court of Appeals ruled this month. Sheldon M. Ryan stood trial in 2018 for physically attacking his romantic partner, and a jury found…
-
Appeals court finds El Paso judge properly handled ‘violent outburst’ during jury deliberations
—
by
Colorado’s second-highest court has found an El Paso County judge properly addressed a “violent outburst” that occurred during jury deliberations, and consequently declined to reverse the defendant’s convictions. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals believed a heated confrontation in the jury room that left one juror feeling “threatened” did not amount to the…
-
State Supreme Court accepts appeals on DIA noise, thwarted bike theft
—
by
The Colorado Supreme Court agreed this week to hear two cases on appeal, involving Denver’s liability for noise violations at Denver International Airport as well as a Boulder thief’s role in damaging his victim’s car. Two other cases fell just short of the threshold for accepting an appeal, which requires agreement from three out of the…
-
Appeals court pushes back against racial bias in jury selection
—
by
Colorado’s second-highest court laid down new rules on Thursday to discourage the exclusion of people of color from juries for reasons that, while not explicitly racial, are nevertheless correlated with race. Two separate panels of the state’s Court of Appeals issued rulings that, in part, forbid the dismissal of Black jurors solely because they reveal…
-
Appeals court upholds conviction, finds bribery can occur before legal proceedings begin
—
by
Colorado’s second-highest court has ruled that a person can commit bribery under state law even before a criminal proceeding begins, as long as there is an intent to influence the testimony of a potential witness. The decision upheld the 2007 convictions of Larry Gene Lancaster, who sexually assaulted a teenage boy repeatedly after plying him…
-
Appeals court upholds convictions following claims of racial bias in jury selection
—
by
Colorado’s second-highest court upheld the convictions of two criminal defendants who alleged prosecutors improperly dismissed jurors of color from their trials, although one appellate judge believed a lower court had failed to properly evaluate the potential for discrimination. Each appeal in the cases of Eve Martinez out of Weld County and D’Shay Damu Evans out…
-
Appeals court upholds man’s conviction for threatening judge
—
by
The state’s Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a Cañon City man for retaliating against the judge who imposed a protection order on him. After a 2019 hearing in which Gary Sanders Jr. was ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from his wife, Sanders left the courtroom with a deputy and said,…
