sb 217
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Lakewood must release police body cam footage of teen’s fatal shooting, appeals court rules
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Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last week that Lakewood is obligated to release body-worn camera footage of police fatally shooting a 17-year-old girl, notwithstanding her surviving family’s objections. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel interpreted a key transparency requirement in Colorado’s landmark police accountability law from 2020. Judge Timothy J. Schutz wrote that legislators crafted “a…
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Ex-Lochbuie officer’s rights not violated with disclosure of misconduct finding, appeals court rules
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Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last month that a former law enforcement officer cannot sue his employer under one police accountability law for reporting its misconduct finding to another agency, as required under a different police accountability law. Officer Michael Oliveira sued leaders of the Lochbuie Police Department under Senate Bill 217, also known as the Enhance Law…
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Appeals court overturns $4 million jury award for elderly woman subject to Denver SWAT search
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Colorado’s second-highest court last week overturned a jury’s roughly $4 million award to an elderly Denver woman who was subject to a SWAT raid on her home after police believed, incorrectly, a stolen iPhone would be found inside. In ordering a new civil trial, a three-judge Court of Appeals panel imposed a new burden on…
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Appeals court emphasizes claims against officers must be ‘frivolous’ for unsuccessful plaintiffs to pay
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Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday that a 2020 police accountability law only contemplates that unsuccessful plaintiffs will compensate officer defendants for their costs when the claims are frivolous. Lawmakers enacted Senate Bill 217 in the wake of protests that erupted over the May 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Although federal…
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Crime victim cannot sue over sheriff’s mishandling of evidence, appeals court rules
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A crime victim cannot claim the Huerfano County Sheriff’s Office violated his constitutional rights when it failed to process key evidence and compromised his assailant’s prosecution, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. In a case that seemed to be the first of its kind, Brian Puerta attempted to sue Sheriff Bruce Newman and three of…
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Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit from acquitted man against Denver officers
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A federal judge on Wednesday decided a man acquitted of murder by a Denver jury may sue the officers involved in the investigation for violating his rights, after they allegedly concealed information and failed to perform an adequate investigation. Although Micah Kimball claimed five law enforcement officers infringed on his Fourth Amendment right to be…
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Appeals court interprets police accountability law to block lawsuits against localities
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Although people may sue individual law enforcement officers for violating their rights under a recently-enacted policing accountability law, Colorado’s second-highest court has clarified that lawsuits against local governments directly are not allowed. The ruling from the Court of Appeals on Thursday sets state-level lawsuits apart from those brought under federal law, where the U.S. Supreme…
