weld county
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‘Weird,’ ‘confusing,’ ‘disheartening’: Colorado Supreme Court under fire over racial bias proposal
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Several members of a Colorado Supreme Court advisory committee aired their frustration last week after the justices announced they had reached consensus on a proposal to combat racial discrimination in jury selection — by substantially watering down the protections built into the original draft. The Supreme Court took the unusual step of asking its Rules of…
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Ex-Lochbuie officer’s rights not violated with disclosure of misconduct finding, appeals court rules
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Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last month that a former law enforcement officer cannot sue his employer under one police accountability law for reporting its misconduct finding to another agency, as required under a different police accountability law. Officer Michael Oliveira sued leaders of the Lochbuie Police Department under Senate Bill 217, also known as the Enhance Law…
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Federal judge agrees state’s ‘intercept’ of man’s $3.5 million jury award was proper
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A federal judge agreed last month that Colorado acted properly by not paying a man directly for violating his rights, but instead crediting the jury’s multimillion-dollar award toward the crime victim restitution he still owed in his criminal case. Addressing an unusual question, U.S. District Court Judge S. Kato Crews determined it was permissible for…
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Colorado panel to hold likely first-ever livestream of judicial discipline proceeding
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A three-member panel assigned to adjudicate the misconduct allegations against a northeastern Colorado judge will livestream a status conference on Friday, for apparently the first time in the state’s history. On Nov. 25, the Colorado Supreme Court suspended District Court Judge Justin B. Haenlein, who presides in the 13th Judicial District of Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips,…
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Appeals court overturns Weld County drug convictions after officer gave improper testimony
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Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday overturned a man’s drug convictions and 36-year prison sentence because a law enforcement officer improperly testified the defendant had met the legal elements to be found guilty. An expert witness cannot “usurp” the jury’s role by testifying about the conclusion jurors should reach. The Court of Appeals has previously ordered…
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Appeals court says no automatic cross-examination of witnesses whose probation ends by trial
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If a person was serving a probationary sentence at the time they witnessed a crime, but their probation ended by the time they testified at trial, the defense does not have the right to let jurors hear about that witness’s connection to the prosecution, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. A three-judge panel for the…
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Colorado Supreme Court tells Weld County to follow state redistricting law
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Weld County must comply with the state law governing how boards of county commissioners are to draw their districts, and the county needs to adopt new maps by next year’s election, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday. Following the 2020 census, it was undisputed that Weld County did not follow the procedures for how…
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Colorado Supreme Court attempts to restore order in Weld County cases after botched cell phone search
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The Colorado Supreme Court issued a pair of orders on Friday attempting to end the turbulence after an accidental disclosure of confidential defense information to the prosecution affected multiple Weld County criminal cases. District Court Judge Vincente G. Vigil has struggled to contain the fallout from a botched cell phone search that resulted in hundreds…
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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…