Tag: justice monica marquez
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Colorado justices, 4-3, uphold Denver jury’s $9.2 million award for botched surgery
The Colorado Supreme Court, in a divided ruling on Monday, left in place a Denver jury’s award of more than $9.2 million to a man severely injured after his back surgery at Sky Ridge Medical Center went wrong. Although Colorado law limits damages in medical malpractice cases to $1 million, it is possible for a judge…
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Colorado justices uphold disbarment of lawyer previously disbarred in D.C.
The state Supreme Court agreed on Monday that a lawyer recently disbarred in the District of Columbia for mishandling client funds should also be disbarred in Colorado under the concept of reciprocal discipline. In August 2022, the D.C. Court of Appeals found John F. Kennedy intentionally misappropriated his clients’ money and barred him from practicing…
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Colorado justices wary of disallowing lawyer from practicing due to honesty, candor issues
Members of the state Supreme Court seemed hesitant on Tuesday to block a recent law school graduate with a long history of political activism in Colorado from practicing law, despite findings that he obstructed attorney regulators from learning about child neglect and domestic violence allegations. Matthew Tobin Arnold was in his mid-fifties when he graduated…
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Colorado Supreme Court signals intervention in Denver, Jeffco criminal cases
The Colorado Supreme Court indicated in recent weeks that it may intervene in two criminal cases to decide whether a defendant convicted of a misdemeanor in county court is entitled to halt his sentence while he appeals, and whether prosecutors established probable cause of another defendant’s child abuse charge. At least three of the court’s…
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Colorado Supreme Court ponders where to draw line on sex offenders living with child relatives
The Colorado Supreme Court on Wednesday grappled with how to ensure a convicted defendant’s relationship with a minor family member is protected, while at the same time allowing courts to impose no-contact directives with children as part of sex offender probation. Following his Adams County conviction, Abdullahi Salah lived with his sister and her infant…
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‘Something about that is wrong’: Colorado justices weigh ski resort immunity for child’s debilitating fall
In a case that attracted the interest of Colorado’s outdoor recreation industry, the state Supreme Court considered on Tuesday whether parents may waive their children’s right to sue for debilitating injuries that are allegedly the fault of a negligent ski resort operator. Annalea “Annie” Miller was 16 years old when she fell 30 feet from…
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Colorado justices conflicted about using views on police bias to remove jurors of color
For two hours on Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court grappled with a question that could significantly affect the composition of juries going forward: If a juror of color, based on her experiences, says that bias in policing exists, would removing that person from the jury pool be tantamount to dismissing her because of her race?…
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Colorado justices weigh timeline to sue for injured children
Under Colorado law, when a person is injured in a motor vehicle accident, they have three years to sue. If the person is a child, the deadline is three years from the date of the accident or two years after turning 18, whichever is later. The state Supreme Court, however, considered on Wednesday what happens…
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Colorado justices consider how changes in law should benefit defendants on appeal
When the Colorado Supreme Court decided in late 2020 that defendants charged with felony drunk driving offenses were being tried and convicted contrary to the law’s design, it resulted in the reversal of many DUI convictions on appeal. The government argued against overturning the conviction of one affected defendant, Charles James Crabtree, because the trial court’s…
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Colorado justices spar over need for new trial due to biased judge
When public defender Amanda C. Hopkins appeared in Saguache County District Court on April 17, 2018, her client failed to show up. The hearing was over in a matter of minutes. Records at the time did not document her brief substitution for the regular public defender assigned to the case. Three months later, Hopkins became…