True Threat
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Appeals court agrees defendant’s speech constitutionally protected against El Paso County judge
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Colorado’s second-highest court agreed last week that a defendant’s critical statements toward an El Paso County judge were constitutionally protected and could not form the basis of a retaliation charge. A three-judge Court of Appeals panel concluded that, in context, Ashley Hernandez’s brief confrontation with District Court Judge Diana May in a courthouse elevator did…
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Colorado Supreme Court dings El Paso County DA’s office for filing appeal in wrong court
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El Paso County prosecutors incorrectly filed an appeal with the Colorado Supreme Court, the justices ruled on Monday, explaining that a trial judge did not, in fact, declare a law unconstitutional and enable the state’s highest court to hear the case directly. Under state law and the procedural rules, district attorneys have a duty to…
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Appeals court orders new trial in stalking case a year after U.S. Supreme Court finds flaw
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday ordered a new trial in the Arapahoe County stalking case that went all the way to the nation’s highest court and resulted in a new burden for prosecutors seeking to convict alleged stalkers based on their communications. Last year, by 7-2, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Counterman…
