Tag: constitution
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Release hearing ordered for Aurora detainee held for 2 years in ICE custody
A federal judge earlier this month ordered a hearing to determine if a detainee in Aurora who has spent the last two years in immigration custody should be released during the remainder of her removal proceedings. More than two decades ago, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a noncitizen’s detention could be constitutionally unreasonable beyond six months.…
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El Paso County man’s concerns of bias did not entitle him to forgo jury trial, appeals court rules
Colorado’s second-highest court ruled earlier this month that a defendant in El Paso County did not have the right to unilaterally choose a trial by judge, rather than trial by jury, amid concerns that jurors would not treat him fairly. Jonathan Yamar Best is serving 20 years to life in prison after a jury convicted…
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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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Federal judge weighs immunity for Westminster officer who shot, killed man in mental crisis
A federal judge on Friday heard arguments over whether a Westminster police officer may be held liable for shooting and killing a 27-year-old man experiencing a mental health crisis after lesser forms of restraint did not defuse the encounter. Although Birendra Thakuri’s mother filed suit against Officer Steven Bare and the city one year after her…
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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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At SCOTUS, Colorado’s Justice Carlos Samour looms in Trump ballot disqualification arguments
During Thursday’s oral arguments before the nation’s highest court about Donald Trump’s constitutional eligibility to remain on the ballot, the justices explicitly and indirectly channeled the member of Colorado’s Supreme Court who wrote the most impassioned critique of the legal effort to disqualify Trump. Justice Carlos A. Samour Jr., in his dissenting opinion in December,…
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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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Federal judge allows excessive force claim to proceed against Westminster officers
A federal judge on Tuesday permitted an excessive force claim to proceed against Westminster police officers who allegedly knocked a man unconscious and continued to beat him after he posed no threat. However, U.S. District Court Judge S. Kato Crews based his ruling on the allegations in Jonathan David Smith’s complaint, which did not include…
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Colorado Republicans call case against Trump ‘unreal,’ Democrats say SCOTUS should bar ‘insurrectionist’
Republicans and Democrats in Colorado expectedly hewed along partisan lines following Thursday’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is weighing whether former president Donald Trump should be disqualified from the state ballot for allegedly engaging in an “insurrection” that culminated in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress. “It would be a…
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History, democracy and violence: Groups weigh in to SCOTUS ahead of Trump disqualification arguments
In the days leading up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic consideration of whether Donald Trump is constitutionally barred from seeking another term as president, 73 sets of legal briefs representing thousands of individuals and organizations flooded in to offer perspectives on the Colorado Supreme Court’s finding of Trump’s ineligibility. Although most of the “amicus” –…