terry fox
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Appeals court says man representing himself was not crazy, but ‘sovereign citizen’
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While all parties agreed that Charles James Crabtree had acted bizarrely throughout his drunken-driving case, Colorado’s second-highest court determined it was not mental illness, but rather Crabtree’s belief in the “sovereign citizen” movement that motivated his aberrant behavior. The state’s Court of Appeals consequently declined to overturn Crabtree’s conviction for driving under the influence, even…
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Appeals court decides 2-1 on standard for restricting parents’ custody
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A divided panel of the state’s Court of Appeals has clarified the circumstances under which judges can restrict a parent’s time with their children, in a case complicated by the contradictory orders of a Jefferson County magistrate. Under Colorado law, a divorced parent can ask a judge to restrict their ex-spouse’s custody if there are…
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Appeals court finds no error in dismissal of Black juror from El Paso County case
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Colorado’s second-highest court has determined an El Paso County judge appropriately allowed prosecutors to dismiss a Black juror from a criminal trial for reasons other than his race. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized in the 1986 decision of Batson v. Kentucky that juror dismissals, or strikes, motivated by a juror’s race are unconstitutional. Consequently, trial judges evaluate…
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Appeals court overturns Garfield County murder conviction due to coerced confession
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Local, state and federal interrogators coerced a confession out of a murder suspect in Garfield County, and his resulting statements could have affected the jury’s verdict, Colorado’s second-highest court determined on Thursday. There was no question that Gustavo Olivo-Tellez shot and killed his wife in Glenwood Springs early in October 2016. The dispute at trial…
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Appeals court offers competing interpretations of juror’s admission he ‘didn’t want diversity’
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A fractured Court of Appeals has upheld the kidnapping and sexual assault convictions of a man in Gilpin County, with sharp disagreement among the judges about the role racial bias played in his jury selection. Reginald Keith Clark, who is Black, is serving a 30-year sentence for bringing a white woman against her will from…
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Court rules that Arapahoe prosecutor’s questions to jury were ‘fair game’
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Although the prosecution’s conduct was “close to the line,” a panel of Colorado’s Court of Appeals decided by 2-1 that the government did not improperly place the burden on a defendant to prove his innocence at trial. The state’s second-highest court considered whether an Arapahoe County prosecutor’s comments to a jury so fundamentally undermined the…
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Appeals court rules against Teller County sheriff, reinstates lawsuit challenging immigration enforcement
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Six Teller County taxpayers have the right to sue their sheriff for his enforcement of federal immigration policies in an apparent violation of state law, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday. Sheriff Jason Mikesell had attempted to argue that an atypical funding scheme for the county jail meant that on paper, no taxpayer dollars…
