self-defense
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Appeals court orders new murder trial for teen after judge blocked self-defense evidence
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Colorado’s second-highest court overturned a defendant’s murder conviction last week after concluding an Arapahoe County judge wrongly barred evidence suggesting the man acted in self-defense. There was no dispute that 18-year-old Joseph Dean McCaughin shot and killed 16-year-old Ryan Robertson in Aurora in May 2019. In the prosecution’s telling, McCaughin was jealous of Robertson, who was…
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Appeals court orders new murder trial after Denver judge gave faulty self-defense instruction
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Colorado’s second-highest court overturned a man’s murder conviction and life sentence on Thursday after concluding a Denver judge gave a problematic self-defense instruction to jurors, casting doubt on the verdict. Jurors delivered a split verdict, acquitting Oscar D. Villegas-Ortega of first-degree murder after deliberation, but convicting him of another murder charge as well as manslaughter and assault.…
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Colorado Supreme Court to say whether self-defense in workplace is grounds for termination
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The Colorado Supreme Court will decide whether employers may terminate workers for using self-defense in the workplace. Last week, the justices agreed to answer the question posed by a federal judge who is deciding whether a former convenience store clerk’s wrongful discharge lawsuit should proceed to a jury trial. Although U.S. District Court Judge Nina…
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Appeals court orders new Weld County murder trial after judge refused to give self-defense instruction
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday decided a Weld County judge should have instructed jurors to consider whether a man accused of murder acted in self-defense, given that some evidence at the crime scene supported that theory. Jurors convicted Kenneth James Hoschouer III in 2021 of murdering his friend, Christopher Grau, at Grau’s residence in Firestone two years…
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10th Circuit directs judge to redo ruling in case of gas station clerk fired for confronting knife-wielding robber
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The federal appeals court based in Denver told a trial judge on Tuesday to reconsider her ruling that Circle K lawfully fired a 72-year-old convenience store cashier who attempted to stop a knife-wielding robber from stealing cigarettes. Mary Ann Moreno, a 16-year employee of the company, was behind the register at a Westminster Circle K…
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Appeals judge slams Denver prosecutor for ‘Dexter’ references at trial
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One member of Colorado’s second-highest court criticized a Denver prosecutor on Thursday for repeatedly comparing a defendant’s actions to the television show “Dexter” during a jury trial. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals declined to order a new murder trial for defendant Joseph Alden Corey. The majority conceded the prosecutor’s references to a…
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Appeals court finds numerous errors in 2 Mesa, El Paso County trials but upholds convictions
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Colorado’s second-highest court determined last week that numerous errors, including prosecutorial misconduct, pervaded a pair of criminal trials, but the missteps were not severe enough to warrant reversal of the defendants’ convictions. In El Paso County, jurors convicted Daniel Caleb Schwenk of assault and menacing, but could not reach consensus on an attempted murder charge.…
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Assault, murder convictions reversed in 2 cases for judges’ errors
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday reversed two sets of criminal convictions because trial judges gave improper instructions to jurors or incorrectly allowed damaging evidence to be heard. In the first case out of Jefferson County, jurors convicted Clinton Eugene Priest of murdering and assaulting Robert Miller after the two men got into a physical confrontation outside…
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Colorado Supreme Court confirms ‘Make My Day’ home defense not applicable to reckless killing
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The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a man convicted of manslaughter in Adams County could not rely on the state’s “Make My Day” law authorizing lethal force against home intruders to defend himself against a charge of recklessly shooting his friend. There was no dispute that Justin Brendan Martinez shot and killed Ismael…
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Colorado Supreme Court explores limits of ‘Make My Day’ defense
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There was no dispute that Justin Brendan Martinez shot and killed his friend, Ismael Huerta, inside Martinez’s house. Martinez and another witness described the shooting as a freak accident, one in which Martinez fired his gun at the floor but happened to fatally wound Huerta. Adams County jurors acquitted Martinez of murder but convicted him…