Tag: Magistrate
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Appeals judge asks Colorado Supreme Court to once again clarify magistrate rules
A member of Colorado’s second-highest court urged the state Supreme Court last week to revise confusing language in the rules governing magistrates, less than two weeks after an attempted cleanup of the rules took effect. Magistrates are judicial employees who are not judges but who handle aspects of cases in the trial courts. Litigants may consent…
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Colorado justices approve changes to rules governing magistrates’ decisions
The Colorado Supreme Court recently approved a set of revisions to the rules governing magistrates, which judges have long recognized as confusing. Although the justices adopted the package in early September, they later changed how the rules take effect. Originally, the revisions would have been effective for new cases starting on Jan. 2, 2026. After…
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4 recent murders: Colorado’s troubled family court system ignores children in peril
For nearly seven months Andrea Berry had been trying to get police to take seriously her fears that her ex-husband was sexually abusing their 3-year-old daughter, Sophia, and using her in child pornography, but she was running out of options. A police commander in the town of Elizabeth, where the father lived, had bluntly told…
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COVER STORY | The dream job: A unique coaching program helps steer diverse lawyers to judgeships
Phelicia Kossie-Tonje stopped a woman in the middle of her story about how the father of her children was smashing windows, breaking doors and slashing her tires. “My biggest concern here,” said Kossie-Tonje, the Adams County magistrate who was considering whether to grant the woman a protection order, “is, why didn’t you include some of…