Tag: Carlos Samour
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Q&A: Psychiatrist who interviewed Aurora mass shooter talks about what legally insane means
The murder trial of Ahmad Alissa, who faces multiple charges in the killing of 10 people at a King Soopers in Table Mesa in Boulder three years ago, has reached its final days after two weeks of complex and often emotional testimony. The prosecution and the defense made their closing arguments to the Boulder jurors…
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Colorado Supreme Court says judges may not force mediation in criminal cases
Resolving a question it had never addressed before, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that trial judges may not order the parties in a criminal case to participate in mediation to potentially reach a plea agreement. Although prosecutors and defendants can voluntarily decide to sit down with a neutral third party and discuss how…
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Prosecutors, defense lawyers blindsided by new ‘reasonable doubt’ instruction
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Colorado’s prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys were caught off guard on Friday by a small judicial committee’s quiet change to the longstanding definition of “beyond a reasonable doubt” in the template instructions for jury trials. While prosecutors appeared cautiously supportive of the rewrite, defense lawyers…
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State Supreme Court takes up cases on fishing rights, defamation, late-filed insurance claims
Colorado’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear three cases on appeal, implicating private ownership of riverbeds throughout the state, liability for statements that attorneys make publicly about their cases, and the ability of homeowners to pursue insurance claims filed outside of their policy’s deadline. It takes the consent of three of the court’s seven members…
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State Supreme Court explores role of shifting explanations in race-based juror dismissals
Over 30 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that purposeful racial discrimination in jury selection is unconstitutional, requiring prosecutors to now cite a “race-neutral reason” if a defendant challenges their decision to remove a juror of color. This week, the Colorado Supreme Court considered a narrow question implicating that protocol: If an appeals court…
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From ‘eccentric’ family to pandemic-era justice: Maria Berkenkotter ceremonially sworn in to Supreme Court
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Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter poked gentle fun at the unusually large gap between her first day on the job in January 2021 and her public swearing-in nearly 21 months later. “Thank you all so much for being here to celebrate the 633rd-day anniversary of my appointment,” Berkenkotter said to laughter during her late-September ceremony. Gov.…
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Technical difficulties, constitutional rights at center of Colorado Supreme Court parental case
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Members of the Colorado Supreme Court appeared leery on Tuesday of concluding a father experienced a violation of his constitutional rights when a Jefferson County judge terminated the legal relationship with his child. There was no dispute that the man, identified as R.B., had notice of the hearing and a lawyer who advocated on his…
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‘This is how innocent people are convicted,’ defendant alleges wrongful conviction to Supreme Court
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When police arrested Nora Hilda Rios-Vargas for the burglary of a Weld County trailer home where someone had stolen $15,000 in jewelry and $3,000 in coins, there was only one definitive piece of evidence linking her to the crime scene: shards of a bloody latex glove with her DNA on it. At the same time,…
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State Supreme Court wades into intrajudicial conflict over rights of employees
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Colorado’s Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether judges have the power to review personnel decisions involving judicial employees, a rare case in which different parts of the judicial branch are arguing for opposite interpretations of existing rules. During oral arguments on Wednesday, the state’s justices heard that judicial employees are legally different from…
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State Supreme Court to examine foreclosure timeline, narrowly turns down DUI appeals
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The Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court’s ruling that banks and mortgage lenders argue gives an improper incentive to rapidly foreclose on certain homeowners. On Monday, the justices announced they will hear the case of U.S. Bank National Association v. Silvernagel, which centers on Colorado’s six-year statute of limitations for lenders to foreclose…