Tag: sixth amendment
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No constitutional right to plead guilty, appeals court says in upholding El Paso County convictions
An El Paso County judge was not constitutionally obligated to accept a defendant’s guilty plea, Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last week. Appealing his convictions, Timothy Ray Scott Jr. argued his trial judge violated his constitutional right to “autonomy” by not letting him plead guilty. The U.S. Supreme Court has previously interpreted the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of…
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Divided appeals court upholds Denver child sex assault conviction
Colorado’s second-highest court upheld a man’s sex assault conviction earlier this month, although there was disagreement between appellate judges about whether jurors properly evaluated damaging evidence of the defendant’s conduct in light of his unusual defense at trial. A Denver jury convicted Mohammed Diawarra in 2021 for sexual assault on a child after he impregnated an…
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Appeals court declares automatic reversal not required after Jeffco judge forgot to swear in jurors
For the first time on Thursday, Colorado’s second-highest court determined a criminal defendant’s convictions are not subject to automatic reversal if a trial judge neglects to swear in the jury. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals noted the U.S. Supreme Court has never explicitly recognized the constitutional right to a sworn jury. Although…
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Appeals court says trial judges may retroactively justify excluding public from courtrooms
In a move that potentially tees up the question for the state Supreme Court to resolve, Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday ruled that judges who exclude members of the public from trial on questionable grounds may have the opportunity to justify their actions on appeal. The Sixth Amendment guarantees criminal defendants the right to a…
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Appeals court upholds ejection of disruptive observer from livestream of criminal trial
Colorado’s second-highest court clarified last month that ejecting a disruptive observer from the livestream of a criminal trial will not typically violate the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a public trial. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals considered for the first time whether a Weld County judge effectively “closed” his courtroom mid-trial by banning…
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State Supreme Court decision overturns fetal child abuse charge, determines Sixth Amendment violation
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save A man convicted of murdering his estranged and pregnant wife and inflicting damage on her fetus will have a new trial after the Colorado Supreme Court on Monday decided 4-3 that excluding the defendant’s parents from the courtroom violated the Sixth Amendment, and that the…