Tag: justice monica marquez
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Colorado justices weigh broad definition of ‘criminal justice agency’ in open records lawsuit
Although members of the Colorado Supreme Court appeared wary on Tuesday of finding a large swath of the government can be deemed a “criminal justice agency,” they also recognized lawmakers used broad language to seemingly sweep public entities into that category. The case at hand questions whether the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board, as…
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Technical oversight or key error? Colorado justices weigh reversal of Denver murder conviction
The Colorado Supreme Court appeared doubtful on Tuesday that the failure to formally designate a witness as an expert in front of the jury rose to the level of mistake that would require a new murder trial for the defendant. Denver jurors convicted Pete Paul Martinez of stabbing 77-year-old Lewis Easterday to death near Cheesman Park in 2016. Martinez…
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Colorado justices cautious of letting litigants make open records requests while suing governments
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court grappled on Tuesday with two competing principles: honoring public access to government records, on the one hand, while preventing litigants from deluging public bodies with open records requests at the same time they are suing them. Previously, the state’s second-highest court ruled that plaintiffs are not forbidden from using…
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Colorado Supreme Court accepts cases on DNA exoneration, medical negligence, online reviews
The Colorado Supreme Court announced this month it will hear appeals in four cases, including one that questions the level of detail a convicted defendant must provide when asserting the existence of DNA evidence that could exonerate him. At least three of the court’s seven members must agree to take up an appeal. The justices…
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Colorado justices rule county courts may jail defendants during misdemeanor appeals
The Colorado Supreme Court clarified on Monday that county court judges may order defendants into custody while they appeal their misdemeanor convictions. The justices pointed out the Colorado Constitution explicitly forbids judges from setting bail pending appeal if they find the defendant is a danger to the community, as was the case with Richard Lewis.…
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Q&A with Monica Márquez | Colorado’s new chief justice outlines judicial initiatives, path to top job
In late 2020, the seven justices of the Colorado Supreme Court decided on a new method of selecting the judicial branch’s top officer: The chief justice role would rotate among the members every three years. The court announced Justice Brian D. Boatright would be the first chief under the new system, with Justice Monica M.…
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Colorado Supreme Court, 5-2, says no new trial following ‘overt, in-court racism’
The Colorado Supreme Court concluded on Monday that a Black defendant did not deserve a new trial after one juror disclosed he moved to the overwhelmingly White jurisdiction because he “didn’t want diversity,” and the trial judge refused to dismiss him for bias. By 5-2, the court believed Reginald Keith Clark had not shown the…
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Colorado justices wrestle with whether woman’s 2.5 hours under police supervision was ‘custody’
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court wrestled last month with a question that previously divided the state’s second-highest court: Did Craig law enforcement effectively place a heavily intoxicated woman in custody and interrogate her for the murder of her husband without providing the necessary Miranda warning? The answer could implicate the breadth of protection afforded…
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Colorado justices agree ‘nature of relationship’ with minor relatives governs sex offender restrictions
The Colorado Supreme Court decided on Monday that a person on sex offender probation does not have his constitutional rights violated anytime his contact is restricted with minor relatives who are not his children. Instead, the Supreme Court decided such relationships fall on a “spectrum of protection,” with parent-child relationships requiring the greatest degree of…
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Colorado justices say conflicted lawyer not OK, but automatic reversal not required for defendant
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court agreed on Monday it was highly problematic that an El Paso County defense lawyer seemingly failed to tell his client he was simultaneously being prosecuted by the same district attorney’s office, but a majority stopped short of finding the conflict merited an automatic reversal of the defendant’s convictions. Matthew…