Tag: Affirmative Defense
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Appeals court clarifies defendants’ ability to claim they unknowingly ingested drugs
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Colorado’s second-highest court clarified on Thursday that not every criminal defendant’s claim that they mistakenly ingested a different drug than the drug they thought they were taking will enable them to argue they were “involuntarily intoxicated.” An El Paso County jury convicted Karl Jeran Friday Williams in 2022 after he walked through a Colorado Springs neighborhood…
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Colorado Supreme Court explores limits of ‘Make My Day’ defense
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save There was no dispute that Justin Brendan Martinez shot and killed his friend, Ismael Huerta, inside Martinez’s house. Martinez and another witness described the shooting as a freak accident, one in which Martinez fired his gun at the floor but happened to fatally wound Huerta.…
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Colorado appeals court orders new trial in Centennial murder case due to judge’s error
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An Arapahoe County judge refused to issue a key jury instruction in a high-profile murder trial, which lowered the prosecution’s burden of proof and prompted Colorado’s second-highest court to overturn the defendant’s conviction last month. Lloyd Chavez IV, a student at Cherokee Trail High School, died in May 2019 after four teenagers attempted to rob…
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Colorado appeals court overturns conviction for Larimer County judge’s faulty instruction
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In a rare move, both the prosecution and defense agreed the state’s Court of Appeals should overturn a man’s assault conviction because a Larimer County judge incorrectly instructed jurors about self-defense. Consequently, a three-judge appellate panel on Thursday ordered a new trial for Anthony John Trimarco, who is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence. In criminal…