self-defense
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Colorado appeals court overturns conviction for Larimer County judge’s faulty instruction
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In a rare move, both the prosecution and defense agreed the state’s Court of Appeals should overturn a man’s assault conviction because a Larimer County judge incorrectly instructed jurors about self-defense. Consequently, a three-judge appellate panel on Thursday ordered a new trial for Anthony John Trimarco, who is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence. In criminal…
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Appeals court orders new trial after Arapahoe County judge failed to instruct jury on self-defense
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A man serving 16 years for assault and attempted manslaughter will receive a new trial after Colorado’s second-highest court determined an Arapahoe County judge failed to give jurors a required instruction about self-defense. The law entitles a defendant to such an instruction when there is some credible evidence they acted in self-defense. District Court Judge…
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Convictions reversed in 2 cases due to faulty jury instructions
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Colorado’s second-highest court reversed the convictions of two Arapahoe County criminal defendants earlier this month, citing the failure by the trial judges to properly instruct jurors about the law on self-defense. The circumstances of each case differed slightly. In one instance, the trial judge apparently forgot to read the proper self-defense instruction he had previously…
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Judges’ faulty instructions prompt appeals court to reverse convictions in 3 cases
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Colorado’s second-highest court reversed convictions in three separate cases last month after the trial judges’ faulty instructions to jurors improperly lowered the burden of proof needed to secure a guilty verdict. In each instance, the Court of Appeals determined the defendants’ juries were unable to consider key parts of their defense to the criminal charges,…
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Appeals court reverses Mesa County murder conviction after faulty jury instruction
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Colorado’s second-highest court has found a Mesa County judge provided a jury instruction that was unsupported by the evidence, requiring reversal of the defendant’s 2019 murder conviction. Although the defense attorney for Joseph William Peace did not object to the faulty self-defense instruction at the time, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals deemed…
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Adams County conviction overturned after judge’s borrowed jury instruction deemed problematic
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An Adams County judge provided a confusing instruction to jurors in a murder trial that failed to properly explain all of the nuances of self-defense, the state’s second-highest court ruled last month in reversing the defendant’s conviction. District Court Chief Judge Don Quick presided over Jorge Garcia’s 2018 trial, where the only question was whether…
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Murder conviction reversed due to judge using unacceptable analogy
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A man sentenced to 52 years for the grisly murder of his father will receive a new trial after the state’s second-highest court determined an Adams County judge gave an explanation for reasonable doubt that the Colorado Supreme Court recently declared unacceptable. After the Court of Appeals had repeatedly warned judges over many years to…
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COVER STORY | A Rittenhouse acquittal in Colorado? Longstanding self-defense laws would allow it
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A young man being pursued down the street attempted to evade his attacker, asking to be left alone until the last possible minute, when he killed the aggressor. The killer could be Kyle Rittenhouse, the then-17-year-old who shot two men and wounded a third in the streets of Kenosha, Wisc. following days of racial justice…
