Tag: capital punishment
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Secret orders, requests for recusal bog down Colorado’s death penalty prosecution
Colorado’s only criminal case in which federal prosecutors are actively pursuing the death penalty has taken unusual turns in recent weeks, with defense attorneys continuing to challenge the judge’s ability to hear the case and the judge issuing orders not available for public viewing. Ishmael Petty stands accused of killing a fellow inmate at the…
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Federal judge declines to recuse from death penalty case after Supermax visit
A federal judge declined to recuse herself last month from a death penalty case arising out of Colorado’s “Supermax” prison, finding that her tour of the facility earlier this year did not bias her decision-making. U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney is presiding over the federal murder prosecution of Ishmael Petty, who is accused…
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A tattoo, the N-word, a different crime: Colorado justices hear appeal of former death row inmate
Almost 20 years after the murders of a young couple in Aurora, the Colorado Supreme Court heard the appeal of the man convicted of orchestrating the killings and who now alleges numerous errors pervaded his trial. Arapahoe County jurors convicted Robert Keith Ray for the 2005 slayings of Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe. He received…
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Colorado Supreme Court upholds murder convictions of Sir Mario Owens
The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the 2008 murder convictions of Sir Mario Owens, rejecting a long list of alleged errors in one of the most high-profile criminal cases in recent state history. Arapahoe County jurors previously found Owens guilty of the 2005 murders of Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe in Aurora. Marshall-Fields was…
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Trump avoids ‘corporate death penalty’ in civil fraud case, but his business will still get slammed
A New York judge has spared Donald Trump a “corporate death penalty” ruling, but his business did get hit hard with bans and cash penalties