Tag: murder
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10th Circuit upholds convictions of Aurora’s ‘Labor Day Massacre’ shooter
Even if there was a constitutional violation from letting jurors hear the videotaped statements of a wanted fugitive, the federal appeals court based in Denver agreed the out-of-court testimony implicating a teenage defendant in a 1998 killing spree did not undermine his murder convictions. Alexander Pogosyan is serving multiple life sentences for his role in…
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Englewood police should return defendant’s $160.15 in cash, appeals court says
Colorado’s second-highest court agreed last month that Englewood police need to give a defendant back the $160 in cash they seized at the time of his 2004 arrest, and a trial judge must evaluate whether other personal items should also be returned to Gabriel Esparza. An Arapahoe County jury convicted Esparza in 2005 of killing his wife,…
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Appeals court takes no issue with defense lawyer who admitted client’s guilt at trial
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday concluded an attorney did not violate his client’s constitutional right to make key decisions about his defense when the lawyer unilaterally told the jury his client committed some of the charged crimes. The U.S. Supreme Court has provided guidance in recent years about when criminal defense attorneys may concede their…
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Assault, murder convictions reversed in 2 cases for judges’ errors
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday reversed two sets of criminal convictions because trial judges gave improper instructions to jurors or incorrectly allowed damaging evidence to be heard. In the first case out of Jefferson County, jurors convicted Clinton Eugene Priest of murdering and assaulting Robert Miller after the two men got into a physical confrontation outside…
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Man pleads not guilty in 2019 killing of Colorado Springs rap artist, slated to begin trial in 2025
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save The man accused of shooting and killing a local rap artist in 2019 pleaded not guilty to all charges on Thursday and is now set to go to trial in early 2025. Aee Shawn Mathews, 26, is accused of killing William Underwood, who went by the…
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Man pleads not guilty in 2019 killing of Colorado Springs rap artist, slated to begin trial in 2025
The man accused of shooting and killing a local rap artist in 2019 pleaded not guilty to all charges on Thursday and is now set to go to trial in early 2025. Aee Shawn Mathews, 26, is accused of killing William Underwood, who went by the rapper name “FYL Jackk,” on Sept. 17, 2019. The allegations…
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Felony child abuse convictions overturned in high-profile case due to instruction error
Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a woman’s felony convictions for child abuse resulting in death last month after concluding the instructions that a San Miguel County judge provided the jury did not include the necessary language. Hannah Marshall, 8, and Makayla Roberts, 10, were discovered dead and decomposing in a vehicle located on Frederick “Alec” Blair’s Norwood…
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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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Boulder County detectives violated suspect’s Miranda rights, Supreme Court rules
Boulder County sheriff’s detectives continued to interrogate a murder suspect even after he definitively invoked his constitutional right to remain silent, the Colorado Supreme Court concluded on Monday in barring the prosecution from using the man’s in-custody statements at trial. The Boulder County District Attorney’s Office insisted a pair of detectives attempted to end the…