Tag: murder
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Appeals court finds flaws with restitution orders in 2 criminal cases
Colorado’s second-highest court last week overturned multiple orders, in whole or in part, for criminal defendants to pay financial restitution to their victims. In the first case out of Arapahoe County, Aron Sanchez was charged for two sets of crimes. He was accused of breaking into a vehicle to steal a stereo, after which his…
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Arrest made in fatal shooting near Colorado Springs youth football game
One person has been arrested for allegedly killing a man near a youth football game on the south side of Colorado Springs earlier this month. According to a news release from Colorado Springs police, Antivius Crowder, 31, was arrested Friday on suspicion of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Donte Maurice Rice on Oct.…
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Despite prevailing at Supreme Court, man’s murder convictions again upheld by Court of Appeals
Four months after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled police generally cannot draw blood from a driver who has revoked the consent that state law has created for him, the Court of Appeals has again upheld the defendant’s homicide convictions after reasoning police acted in good faith by extracting his blood. Under Colorado’s “expressed consent” law, motorists have…
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Appeals court upholds 2 murder convictions, rejecting complaints about jurors’ use of devices
Colorado’s second-highest court recently upheld the murder convictions of two defendants who claimed it was inappropriate that jurors were allowed to simulate the pressure of a trigger-pull with a mechanical device and to use a calculator during deliberations. In the first case out of Denver, a jury convicted Samuel J. Robinson of second-degree murder for…
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Jeffco murder conviction overturned after appeals court finds police unconstitutionally accessed cell phone
A man serving a life sentence for murder will receive a new trial after Colorado’s second-highest court concluded last week that law enforcement unconstitutionally used a “shortcut” to unlock his phone in time for his original trial. In reaching its conclusion, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals rejected the idea that a cell…
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Colorado Supreme Court to hear murder, noise pollution, fentanyl cases
The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday it will decide whether a man can be tried a second time for murder after jurors rendered a verdict that made no sense if they had followed their instructions. At least three of the seven justices must agree to hear a case on appeal. The court also elected…
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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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‘Uncharted territory’: Colorado Supreme Court wades into murder case involving wrongly disclosed files
The Colorado Supreme Court signaled last week that it may intervene in a Weld County murder case in which a trial judge has struggled to contain the accidental release of confidential defense documents to the prosecution. Marquise Shadell Daniels stands accused of murdering Blaire McQueen in December 2020. In an unusual twist, an investigator for the defense,…
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Colorado justices reverse murder conviction for police interrogation lacking Miranda warning
A woman convicted of murdering her husband in a Moffat County motel room will receive a new trial after the Colorado Supreme Court concluded on Monday that police failed to provide a Miranda warning before interrogating her. Rachel Ann Niemeyer and Michael Adam Freese were intoxicated and handling a rifle when the gun went off and…
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Appeals court finds numerous errors in 2 Mesa, El Paso County trials but upholds convictions
Colorado’s second-highest court determined last week that numerous errors, including prosecutorial misconduct, pervaded a pair of criminal trials, but the missteps were not severe enough to warrant reversal of the defendants’ convictions. In El Paso County, jurors convicted Daniel Caleb Schwenk of assault and menacing, but could not reach consensus on an attempted murder charge.…