timothy schutz
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By 2-1, appeals court reverses Denver murder conviction based on procedural blunder
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A man serving a life sentence for a brutal Denver murder will receive a new trial after Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday that the original trial judge, prosecutor and defense attorney failed to notice a key witness was never formally authorized as an expert. By 2-1, a panel of the Court of Appeals reversed…
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Appeals court, 2-1, says judge went too far in authorizing ‘continuous’ monitoring of man’s devices
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A Weld County judge mistakenly upheld a requirement that a defendant subject himself to ongoing monitoring of his keystrokes and data, including conversations with his attorneys, as part of his probation, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals decided, 2-1, that District Court Judge Vincente G. Vigil neglected…
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Colorado appeals court finds Masterpiece Cakeshop violated anti-discrimination law again
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For the second time in nearly eight years, Colorado’s second-highest court has agreed Masterpiece Cakeshop, Inc. violated the state’s antidiscrimination law by refusing to sell a cake to an LGBTQ customer. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals concluded the store’s owner, Jack Phillips, ran afoul of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) when he…
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Colorado Supreme Court accepts 2 cases on capital punishment, racially-biased juror
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The Colorado Supreme Court agreed to hear two criminal appeals on Monday that question whether defendants are entitled to bail for crimes that formerly qualified for a death sentence, and whether a Black man convicted in an overwhelmingly white county deserves a new trial because one juror admitted he “didn’t want diversity.” At least three…
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Nurse permitted to sue over Community College of Denver’s statement she did not graduate
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A Brighton woman who worked for 15 years as a nurse after graduating from the Community College of Denver may sue the school for its representation that she never received a degree, a career-altering allegation that reportedly plunged her into unemployment and foreclosure. The state’s Court of Appeals earlier this month reversed a decision by…
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Divided appeals court reinstates criminal charges after judge failed to order witnesses’ arrest
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In a divided ruling last week, Colorado’s second-highest court decided an El Paso County judge wrongly dismissed a criminal case when she should have instead issued warrants to arrest the witnesses who failed to appear. Given the circumstances in March 2021, which included COVID-19 restrictions on jury trials and the prosecution’s lack of evidence, then-District…
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Divided appeals court finds man’s 5-year sentence reasonable for now-misdemeanor crime
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Colorado’s second-highest court last week upheld the 62-month prison sentence of a man who escaped to Arizona while on parole in 2018, even though the offense would now result in a maximum of 120 days in jail. By a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals found Jonathan Scott Story was not…
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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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Timothy Schutz delivers pro-equity message in formal swearing-in to Colorado Court of Appeals
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Sitting inside the state’s judicial center in downtown Denver, Timothy J. Schutz recalled the story of a young man imprisoned on federal charges and who was facing additional time on a prosecution in El Paso County. The man vowed to turn his life around, which convinced a state judge to show leniency. Upon walking out…
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Mesa County judge went too far in ordering sex offender treatment absent a conviction, appeals court rules
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Although trial judges may require parents to receive psychological counseling for their sexual behavior as part of child welfare proceedings, they may not order parents to receive Colorado’s formal sex offender treatment in the absence of a criminal conviction, the Court of Appeals ruled last week. A three-judge appellate panel explained that the treatment standards…
