Tag: court of appeals
-
Colorado Springs may be sued for faulty intersection, state Supreme Court rules
The Colorado Supreme Court decided last month that Colorado Springs can be sued over a collision that occurred as a result of traffic lights that were functioning normally in one direction, but were inoperative in the perpendicular direction. The question for the Supreme Court was whether the traffic arrangement provided “conflicting” signals to plaintiff Bernard…
-
Colorado Supreme Court to decide whether out-of-state defendant may be prosecuted for in-state crime
The Colorado Supreme Court recently announced that it will decide whether Douglas County prosecutors had grounds to pursue criminal charges against a woman in New York whose conduct occurred outside of Colorado. Erin Brennan and her children lived in New York, and her ex-husband moved to Colorado after their divorce. In 2022, she proposed a…
-
Colorado Supreme Court to evaluate test for alimony after remarriage
The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will evaluate whether divorcing spouses must explicitly agree that alimony payments from one partner to the other will continue after one person remarries, or whether a “clear implication” will suffice. The purpose of alimony, known in Colorado as “spousal maintenance,” is to assist spouses who cannot be financially…
-
Colorado justices decline to say whether man’s child prostitution conviction is unconstitutional
The Colorado Supreme Court declined to say on Monday whether a man’s conviction for an attempted child prostitution offense violated his rights under the state constitution, and only concluded that the absence of an obvious error meant his conviction should remain intact. An El Paso County jury convicted Javier Vega Dominguez of two attempted child…
-
Divided appeals court finds no prosecutorial misconduct in prison assault case
Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last week that a Lincoln County prosecutor did not misstate the law to a degree that undermined a jury’s assault verdict against the defendant. During closing arguments in Phillip Archuleta’s 2023 trial, the prosecutor suggested to jurors that Archuleta did not have to make contact with a corrections officer during a…
-
Boulder County prosecutor improperly used defendant’s silence as guilt, appeals court finds
Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a Boulder County defendant’s sexual assault conviction last week after concluding that a trial judge should have intervened to stop the prosecutor from inappropriately using the man’s constitutional right to silence to suggest he was guilty. Prosecutors charged Charles G. Higdon III with two counts of sexual assault. Jurors acquitted him…
-
Appeals court upholds discipline for Denver officers’ inadequate domestic violence investigation
Colorado’s second-highest court last week upheld Denver’s discipline of two officers whose investigation of a domestic violence report was brief, failed to separate the victim from her abuser, and overlooked the victim’s severe injuries. Officers Cory Stuper and Brian Finneran argued that pervasive procedural violations in the adjudicative process and their own desire to respect…
-
Judge’s students create AI apps, solicitors general gather for group discussion | COURT CRAWL
Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics’ roundup of news from the third branch of government. A federal judge’s law students created artificial intelligence-powered apps to address access-to-justice issues, plus half a dozen current and former solicitors general of Colorado spoke about the unique role. State Supreme Court news • The Colorado Supreme Court decided that lifetime…
-
Lifetime sex offender registration not ‘punishment,’ Colorado justices say
The Colorado Supreme Court concluded on Monday that lifetime sex offender registration is not cruel and unusual punishment because it is not “punishment.” At the same time, two members urged lawmakers to heed the advice of the Sex Offender Management Board and adopt a new, more accurate system of measuring a person’s risk of recidivism.…
-
Appeals court reverses conviction after judge blocked questioning about witness’s criminal charges
An Arapahoe County judge violated a defendant’s constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him by blocking the defense from asking a witness about her own pending criminal charges in the same jurisdiction, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last week. Prosecutors charged Jose Garcia Valdivia with multiple counts of assault and felony menacing. Garcia allegedly got…