Tag: judge eric bentley
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Colorado justices block injured plaintiff from suing, despite alleged concealment by Manitou Springs
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a woman injured on a Manitou Springs sidewalk could not sue the allegedly responsible entity, the city of Colorado Springs, even though she did not learn until too late of an agreement that made the city liable for the defective infrastructure. Jaimi J. Mostellar argued that Manitou…
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Colorado Supreme Court accepts cases about reliability of gun-to-bullet matching
The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will hear two cases questioning the reliability of expert testimony that purports to identify whether a specific bullet was fired from a specific gun. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to take up a case on appeal. There is currently one vacancy,…
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Jon Hallford sentenced to 40 years in state prison as families endure grief and ‘psychological violence’
Hundreds of families who entrusted their loved ones’ remains to the owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home have spent years hoping the courts would provide some version of closure after one of the most gruesome crimes in the history of the American funerary industry. On Friday, El Paso County 4th Judicial Court Judge Eric…
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Justices debate what to do when governments withhold key info from plaintiffs
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court seemed to be on different pages when they considered on Tuesday whether a woman injured by a sidewalk defect in Manitou Springs was forever barred from suing the actual entity responsible because she did not learn until it was too late that Colorado Springs was the proper defendant. The…
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Hallfords plead guilty to state charges, Carie Hallford back in custody
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Return to Nature Funeral Home owners Jon and Carie Hallford pleaded guilty in state court on Friday to 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, leaving the couple facing a potential 20-year prison sentence. The funeral home in Penrose, about 35 miles southwest of Colorado…
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Hallfords plead guilty to state charges, Carie Hallford back in custody
Return to Nature Funeral Home owners Jon and Carie Hallford pleaded guilty in state court on Friday to 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, leaving the couple facing a potential 20-year prison sentence. The funeral home in Penrose, about 35 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, came under a multi-agency investigation in October 2023 after…
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Appeals judge suggests revising governmental immunity law in response to Manitou Springs’ ‘hide-the-ball’ conduct
A member of the state’s second-highest court has suggested lawmakers revise Colorado’s governmental immunity law to prevent public entities from torpedoing lawsuits by withholding the identity of the actual party responsible for an injury. Last week, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals agreed Jaimi J. Mostellar’s lawsuit against Colorado Springs must be dismissed…
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Colorado justices skeptical of animal rights group’s attempt to free Cheyenne Mountain Zoo elephants
An animal rights group faced a critical reception from the Colorado Supreme Court on Thursday, with the justices doubting they could recognize the legal rights of five elephants in Colorado Springs without also opening the floodgates for widespread attempts to release numerous species from captivity. “Half the people in this room have dogs or cats…
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Appeals court finds numerous errors in 2 Mesa, El Paso County trials but upholds convictions
Colorado’s second-highest court determined last week that numerous errors, including prosecutorial misconduct, pervaded a pair of criminal trials, but the missteps were not severe enough to warrant reversal of the defendants’ convictions. In El Paso County, jurors convicted Daniel Caleb Schwenk of assault and menacing, but could not reach consensus on an attempted murder charge.…
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El Paso County sex assault conviction overturned after judge misapplied law
Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a man’s sexual assault conviction last month after finding an El Paso County judge applied the wrong legal standard when assessing whether the defendant was competent to stand trial. Prosecutors charged Micheal Cochran with numerous sex-related offenses, but his defense attorney became concerned that Cochran was struggling to understand the charges,…