Colorado Supreme Court Decisions 2019
Date: December 23, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 108
Docket Number: 17SC123
Justia Opinion Summary: After Kirk Williams returned home from a trip to North Dakota, his wife went through his overnight travel bag and discovered what she believed to be drugs and paraphernalia. She took the contraband items, placed them…
Date: December 23, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 106
Docket Number: 18SC44
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Abdu-Latif Kazembe Abu-Nantambu-El forced his way into the apartment of an acquaintance, where he fatally stabbed a visitor and forced the acquaintance to clean up evidence of the crime. The prosecution…
Date: December 23, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 107
Docket Number: 19SA183
Justia Opinion Summary: The Colorado Title Board set a title for Proposed Ballot Initiative 2019–2020 #3 (“Proposed Initiative”) that reads, in pertinent part, “An amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning the repeal of the Taxpayer’s…
Date: December 16, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 105
Docket Number: 15SC770
Justia Opinion Summary: Nathan Vigil sought review of the court of appeals’ judgment affirming his convictions of second degree burglary and second degree aggravated motor vehicle theft. The trial court denied Vigil’s for-cause challenge to…
Date: December 16, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 90M
Docket Number: 16SC592
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case and the two companion cases announced at the same time, Melton v. Colorado, 2019 CO 89, ___ P.3d ___, and Colorado v. McRae, 2019 CO 91, ___ P.3d ___, the Colorado Supreme Court considered multiple issues…
Date: December 9, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 99
Docket Number: 16SC269
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury found Defendant Paul Rail guilty of sexual assault on a child. In response to a special interrogatory, the jury also found, unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt, that Rail committed the offense as part of a…
Date: December 9, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 101
Docket Number: 16SC979
Justia Opinion Summary: Ruth Williams allegedly stole $10,000 from her employer. She pled guilty to felony theft in exchange for a four-year deferred judgment and sentence. The district court placed her on probation for the deferral period and…
Date: December 9, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 97M
Docket Number: 17SC570
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue before the Colorado Supreme Court was whether respondent Douglas Baker was entitled to additional presentence confinement credit (“PSCC”) than he originally received. Baker was arrested in Florida in 2011 for…
Date: December 9, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 102
Docket Number: 17SC823
Justia Opinion Summary: Marcus Robinson was charged with multiple counts of sexual assault at a gathering of co-workers and friends at one of the victims' apartment. The issue his case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court's review centered…
Date: December 9, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 100
Docket Number: 18SC394
Justia Opinion Summary: While in a friend’s apartment, Lance Margerum made sexual advances towards E.S. When she rebuffed him, he pushed her onto a bed and groped her. E.S. fought back and promised that she would not tell anyone, and Margerum…
Date: December 9, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 103
Docket Number: 19SA151
Justia Opinion Summary: The State of Colorado filed a delinquency petition against B.B.A.M., charging him with one count of third degree burglary and three counts of criminal mischief. B.B.A.M.’s counsel filed a motion to determine competency.…
Date: December 9, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 104
Docket Number: 19SA180
Justia Opinion Summary: The relevant charges at issue here were class 4, 5, and 6 felonies that did not carry mandatory sentencing, were not crimes of violence pursuant to section 18-1.3-406, C.R.S. (2019), and were not sexual offenses. It was…
Date: December 2, 2019
Docket Number: 19SA260
Justia Opinion Summary: The Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline (“the Commission”) recommended approval of a Stipulation for Public Censure and Suspension against Judge Lance P. Timbreza. In June 2019, Judge Timbreza was arrested and…
Date: November 18, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 96
Docket Number: 16SC508
Justia Opinion Summary: Two separate criminal cases gave rise to the questions presented in this case. (1) In October 2013, Michael Fransua was arrested after he unlawfully entered his former girlfriend’s house and assaulted her. Fransua was…
Date: November 18, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 97
Docket Number: 17SC570
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, Douglas Baker was arrested on a then-outstanding 2009 warrant for sexual assault on a child, pattern of abuse, a class three felony. When Baker learned that he was facing arrest, he fled to Florida. He was…
Date: November 18, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 95
Docket Number: 18SC84
Justia Opinion Summary: Alysha Walton pled guilty to driving under the influence (“DUI”), and the county court sentenced her to twelve months of unsupervised probation. Because Walton did not provide a medical professional to testify regarding…
Date: November 12, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 93
Docket Number: 18SC330
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court’s review centered on whether an investigative subpoena issued by the Colorado Medical Board (the “Board”) can have a lawfully authorized purpose if the…
Date: November 12, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 94
Docket Number: 18SC331
Justia Opinion Summary: This case was companion to Colorado Medical Board v. McLaughlin, 2019 CO 93, __ P.3d __, wherein the Colorado Supreme Court was asked to determine whether an investigative subpoena issued by the Colorado Medical Board…
Date: November 12, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 92
Docket Number: 18SC621
Justia Opinion Summary: Consistent with Medical Marijuana Policy No. 2014-01 (the “Referral Policy”), which the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (the “CDPHE”) had developed after receiving input from staff of the Colorado…
Date: November 7, 2019
Docket Number: 19SA186
Date: November 4, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 89
Docket Number: 14SC282
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case and two companion cases announced at the same time, Wells-Yates v. Colorado, 2019 CO 90, and Colorado v. McRae, 2019 CO 91, the Colorado Supreme Court considered issues “that lie at the intersection of…
Date: November 4, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 90
Docket Number: 16SC592
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case and two companion cases announced at the same time, Melton v. Colorado, 2019 CO 89, and Colorado v. McRae, 2019 CO 91, the Colorado Supreme Court considered “multiple issues that lie at the intersection of…
Date: November 4, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 91
Docket Number: 16SC753
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case and two companion cases announced at the same time, Wells-Yates v. Colorado, 2019 CO 90, and Melton v. Colorado, 2019 CO 89, the Colorado Supreme Court considered issues “that lie at the intersection of…
Date: November 4, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 86M
Docket Number: 18SC225
Justia Opinion Summary: Brooke Rojas received food stamp benefits to which she was not legally entitled. Colorado charged her with two counts of theft under the general theft statute, section 18-4-401(1)(a), C.R.S. (2019). Rojas moved to…
Date: October 28, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 88
Docket Number: 19SA142
Justia Opinion Summary: After a traffic stop of a Cadillac driven by Billie Allen, Greeley Police Department officers conducted an inventory search that yielded a handgun and methamphetamine. In an interlocutory appeal brought by the State of…
Date: October 15, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 87
Docket Number: 17SC692
Justia Opinion Summary: In early 2013, an undercover officer sold Clayton Schaner a series of ostensibly stolen goods as part of an investigation into whether Schaner was using his computer repair store as a front to buy and resell stolen items…
Date: October 15, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 86
Docket Number: 18SC225
Justia Opinion Summary: Brooke Rojas received food stamp benefits to which she was not legally entitled. The prosecution charged her with two counts of theft under the general theft statute, section 18-4-401(1)(a), C.R.S. (2019). Rojas moved to…
Date: October 7, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 84
Docket Number: 18SA271
Justia Opinion Summary: Deputies interrogated Jacob Davis in the basement of his parents’ home about an alleged sexual assault. At that time, Davis made some incriminating statements. He moved to suppress those statements, arguing they were…
Date: October 7, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 85
Docket Number: 18SC45
Justia Opinion Summary: Julian Deleon was charged with two counts of sexual assault on a child. During his trial, Deleon exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self- incrimination and elected not to testify. At the jury instruction…
Date: September 30, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 83
Docket Number: 16SC966
Justia Opinion Summary: Derrick Carrera pled guilty to possession of one gram or less of a schedule I controlled substance, a class 6 felony, in August 2010. Consistent with the parties’ plea agreement, in October 2010, the district court…
Date: September 30, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 82
Docket Number: 17SC29
Justia Opinion Summary: R.B. was knocked cold from behind when trying to enter a locked door to a bar. His belongings were taken. Police identified defendant Johnny Delgado as someone fleeing the scene. Police caught Delgado, who was eventually…
Date: September 23, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 79
Docket Number: 17SC368
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue before the Colorado Supreme Court in this case was how Colorado’s Department of State (“the Department”) charged for some of its services to fund its general operations, which included overseeing elections. It…
Date: September 23, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 75M
Docket Number: 17SC614
Justia Opinion Summary: Kyle Brooks was convicted by jury of two class 4 felony counts for victim tampering. The the trial court adjudicated him to be a habitual criminal based on two prior felony convictions, including his guilty plea to theft…
Date: September 23, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 78
Docket Number: 17SC659
Justia Opinion Summary: Frederick Allman was convicted of seven counts of identity theft, two counts of forgery, and one count each of attempted identity theft, aggravated motor vehicle theft, and theft from an at-risk elder. He was sentenced…
Date: September 23, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 81
Docket Number: 18SC287
Justia Opinion Summary: At the time of the dissolution of their marriage, Ryan Boettcher (“father”) and Christina Boettcher (“mother”) agreed that neither party would pay child support. Several years later, mother, citing a substantial change…
Date: September 23, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 80
Docket Number: 18SC34
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Mark Iannicelli and Eric Brandt stood in the plaza square adjacent to a Denver Colorado courthouse, asking people entering the courthouse whether they were reporting for jury duty. If any of these people…
Date: September 9, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 76
Docket Number: 17SC284
Justia Opinion Summary: In May 2014, Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District (“Woodmen Hills”) held an election to fill vacant positions on its board of directors, and Ron Pace was one of the candidates. Several months before the election, a group…
Date: September 9, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 75
Docket Number: 17SC614
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury found Kyle Brooks guilty of two class 4 felonies for victim tampering, the trial court adjudicated him to be a habitual criminal based on his prior felony convictions, including his guilty plea to theft from…
Date: September 9, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 74
Docket Number: 18SA215
Justia Opinion Summary: The Luskin Daughters 1996 Trust for the benefit of Lyndell Joy Luskin Ackerman, appealed a water court order dismissing its complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as for damages. The complaint alleged…
Date: July 1, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 68
Docket Number: 16SA291
Justia Opinion Summary: The purpose of the "1940 Agreement" at issue in this appeal was to resolve the parties’ disputes regarding seepage and evaporation losses from three of the City and County of Denver’s streambed reservoirs located on the…
Date: July 1, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 71
Docket Number: 16SC546
Justia Opinion Summary: The court of appeals in this case upheld the trial court’s refusal to allow the State to withdraw from a plea agreement after respondent Christopher Mazzarelli pled guilty. The State sought to withdraw from that plea…
Date: July 1, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 70
Docket Number: 17SA285
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner-Appellee Scott Diehl pleaded guilty to three drug offenses in 2005. For each offense, he received a sentence that required him to serve a designated number of years in prison as well as a period of mandatory…
Date: July 1, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 72
Docket Number: 17SC144
Justia Opinion Summary: Leo Phillips was charged with possession of a weapon by a previous offender and driving under restraint. Before trial, defense counsel moved to suppress three pieces of evidence: (1) Phillips’s statements inside a police…
Date: July 1, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 73
Docket Number: 17SC541
Justia Opinion Summary: Detective Paul Patton coerced Matthew Cardman into making a confession, and the prosecution then used that confession as evidence against Cardman to convict him of multiple sex offenses. Defense counsel filed a pretrial…
Date: July 1, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 69
Docket Number: 17SC595
Justia Opinion Summary: Two men, one carrying what seemed to be a gun, broke into an unoccupied Colorado Springs home and stole roughly $8,000 in cash and other valuables from a safe in a bedroom closet. As it happened, the homeowner had a…
Date: June 24, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 66
Docket Number: 16SC267
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court’s review centered on whether a trial court abused its discretion in permitting a police officer to testify regarding the results of a Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus…
Date: June 24, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 64
Docket Number: 17SC147
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Juvenal Onel Garcia was subject to a restraining order from contacting C.G. Almost two years after the issuance of the restraining order, Garcia allegedly attempted to sexually assault C.G. Based on events…
Date: June 24, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 65
Docket Number: 17SC583
Justia Opinion Summary: A condominium association, Dakota Station II Condominium, filed two claims with its insurer, Owners Insurance Company, for weather damage. The parties couldn’t agree on the money owed, so Dakota invoked the appraisal…
Date: June 24, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 61
Docket Number: 18SA189
Justia Opinion Summary: Richard Jones filed a habeas corpus petition in the district court challenging the Department of Corrections’ (“DOC”) calculation of his parole eligibility date (“PED”). Jones asserted that the DOC used only his latest…
Date: June 24, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 67
Docket Number: 18SA212
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States District Court for the District of Colorado certified a question of law to the Colorado Supreme Court. The question centered on proof of equitable estoppel. In 2017, a group of current and former exotic…
Date: June 24, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 62
Docket Number: 18SA284
Justia Opinion Summary: Robert Feldman ("Feldman") and the law firm of Haddon, Morgan & Foreman petitioned for relief from a probate court order requiring the firm to provide information to the special administrator concerning its…
Date: June 24, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 63
Docket Number: 19SA30
Justia Opinion Summary: While on patrol, a police officer heard a man and woman arguing behind the gate of a storage facility. When the officer called dispatch to report the disturbance, he was informed that a call had just come in regarding a…
Date: June 17, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 55
Docket Number: 15SC877
Justia Opinion Summary: William Kutzly was charged with several crimes involving sexual assault on a child. During his trial, the court qualified a social worker as an expert witness in child sexual assault and victim dynamics; the witness then…
Date: June 17, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 47M
Docket Number: 17SC200
Date: June 17, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 58
Docket Number: 17SC427
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2013, Blooming Terrace No. 1 (“Blooming Terrace”) obtained an $11 million loan from KH Blake Street, LLC (“KH Blake Street”), a special purpose entity organized by Kresher Holdings, LLC. The loan was secured by a deed…
Date: June 17, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 59
Docket Number: 17SC61
Justia Opinion Summary: Israel Chavez-Torres was born in Mexico who immigrated to the United States with his mother and three sisters in 1991 when he was thirteen years old. In August 1996, while in high school, Chavez-Torres pled guilty to…
Date: June 17, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 53
Docket Number: 17SC66
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, a juvenile, "T.B." texted a picture of his erect penis to two underage girls and then repeatedly asked the girls to text him naked pictures of themselves. After initially resisting, both girls eventually…
Date: June 17, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 60
Docket Number: 17SC728
Justia Opinion Summary: Frederico Alvarado Hinojos, a citizen of Mexico, immigrated to the United States in 1991 with his wife and two daughters. Sixteen years later, in 2007, he pled guilty to felony menacing with a deadly weapon and…
Date: June 17, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 54
Docket Number: 18SA221
Justia Opinion Summary: T.T. sought to ensure that his name was not linked to the record of his earlier short-term commitment for treatment of a mental health condition. Under section 27-65-107(7), C.R.S. (2018), when a person is released from…
Date: June 17, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 52
Docket Number: 19SA13
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed a district court order partially granting defendant-appellee Keith Haack’s motion and suppressing evidence acquired after officers made a warrantless entry into his residence. The district court found…
Date: June 17, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 56
Docket Number: 19SA22
Justia Opinion Summary: Douglas Schoninger was interested in launching a professional rugby league in the United States. Toward that end, he formed PRO Rugby and approached the United States of America Rugby Football Union (“USAR”), the…
Date: June 17, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 57
Docket Number: 19SA25
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Carol Hedges and Steve Briggs were the designated representatives of the proponents of proposed Initiative 2019–2020 #3 (“Initiative #3”), which, if enacted, would repeal in its entirety the Taxpayer’s Bill…
Date: June 10, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 48
Docket Number: 15SC935
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed a court of appeals' judgment reversing respondent Mike Morehead's convictions for possession and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, as well as seven gambling-related charges.…
Date: June 10, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 49
Docket Number: 17SC708
Justia Opinion Summary: Francis Ruybalid committed numerous ethical violations arising out of cases that he either prosecuted or supervised while he was the District Attorney for the Colorado Third Judicial District. He argued he was entitled…
Date: June 10, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 50
Docket Number: 18SA237
Justia Opinion Summary: After being charged with first degree murder as an adult in district court, Brandon Brown exercised his statutory right to request a “reverse transfer” to juvenile court. In doing so, he asked the Colorado Supreme Court…
Date: June 10, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 51
Docket Number: 18SC30
Justia Opinion Summary: Before the 2007-2008 financial crisis, Woodcrest Homes was poised to construct a new development. Woodcrest secured only a small parcel, "Parcel C" which was stuck between two larger parcels that were necessary for…
Date: June 3, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 44
Docket Number: 15SC1095
Justia Opinion Summary: The Colorado Supreme Court granted certiorari review of a court of appeals' decision affirming David McCoy's convictions for two counts of unlawful sexual while engaged in the treatment or examination of a victim for…
Date: June 3, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 45
Docket Number: 15SC180
Justia Opinion Summary: The charge at issue arose after a witness spotted someone later identified as petitioner Bob Junior Maestas ringing the doorbell of an elderly neighbor’s home and then walking around the side of the house and attempting…
Date: June 3, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 47
Docket Number: 17SC200
Justia Opinion Summary: Dami Hospitality, LLC (“Dami”) was the owner-operator of a Denver motel that employed between four and ten people at any given time. As an employer of three or more persons, Dami was required by statute to maintain…
Date: June 3, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 46
Docket Number: 18SA266
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Michael Klun appealed a water court’s order denying his motion for attorney fees after he prevailed on all claims brought against him in the underlying action by plaintiffs Thomas Klun and Joseph Klun, Jr.…
Date: May 28, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 43
Docket Number: 17SC350
Justia Opinion Summary: Colorado Custom Maid (CCM) places house cleaners with clients who need their homes cleaned. In doing so, it has tried to avoid becoming the house cleaners’ employer, hoping instead to maintain the relationship as one…
Date: May 28, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 41
Docket Number: 17SC840
Justia Opinion Summary: Agilent Technologies, Inc. was a Delaware corporation headquartered in California, and was the parent company of a worldwide family of affiliated corporations. Agilent maintains research and development and manufacturing…
Date: May 28, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 32M
Docket Number: 18SA110
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, defendant-appellees Roger Brooks and Veryl Goodnight filed an application with the water court to change the point of diversion of their water right from the Giles Ditch to the Davenport Ditch. The application…
Date: May 28, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 40
Docket Number: 18SA228
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, the Colorado General Assembly enacted Senate Bill 10-191 (SB 191), which significantly amended Teacher Employment, Compensation, and Dismissal Act of 1990 (TECDA) provisions concerning teacher contracts and the…
Date: May 28, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 39
Docket Number: 18SC186
Date: May 28, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 42
Docket Number: 18SC3
Justia Opinion Summary: Oracle was a Delaware corporation headquartered in California, and it is the parent of a worldwide group of affiliated corporations. OJH was a Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oracle, existing solely…
Date: May 20, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 34
Docket Number: 16SC442
Justia Opinion Summary: The State appealed the court of appeals’ judgment vacating defendant Richard Anderson’s conviction for attempted extreme indifference murder. Concluding that the universal malice element of extreme indifference murder…
Date: May 20, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 36
Docket Number: 17SC584
Justia Opinion Summary: Police officers discovered a pipe inside of defendant Kevin McKnight’s truck containing what later proved to be methamphetamine residue. McKnight would ultimately be charged and convicted for various drug offenses. On…
Date: May 20, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 38
Docket Number: 17SC735
Justia Opinion Summary: The Colorado School of Mines contracted with Sodexo America, LLC, to fulfill its obligations to provide meals and food options for its students. During the time at issue, Mines loaded each meal-plan student’s student…
Date: May 20, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 37
Docket Number: 18SA208
Justia Opinion Summary: While patrolling Mesa County, Deputy Stuckenschneider observed a black Dodge pickup driving with a missing front license plate. Stuckenschneider phoned Deputy Briggs, alerting her to the situation. A few days prior,…
Date: May 20, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 35
Docket Number: 18SA292
Justia Opinion Summary: Police officers entered Jeremiah Tomaske’s property without a warrant and chased him into his house; Tomaske responded by resisting and allegedly assaulting a police officer. The issue this case presented for the…
Date: May 6, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 31
Docket Number: 17SC246
Justia Opinion Summary: Chris Bermel contracted to provide engineering services for BlueRadios, Inc., a wireless data and voice communications company. In 2014, Bermel knowingly forwarded thousands of company emails containing proprietary…
Date: May 6, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 32
Docket Number: 18SA110
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2008, defendant-appellees Roger Brooks and Veryl Goodnight (together “Brooks”) filed an application in the water court to change the point of diversion of their water right from the Giles Ditch to the Davenport Ditch.…
Date: May 6, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 33
Docket Number: 19SA20
Justia Opinion Summary: In an interlocutory appeal, the issue presented for the Colorado Supreme Court’s review centered on whether the trial court erred in suppressing a statement made by defendant Justin Cline after a search of his residence…
Date: April 29, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 29
Docket Number: 16SC542
Justia Opinion Summary: Brent Berdahl was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. On an early January morning, a sheriff's deputy was dispatched to an intersection to check on the well-being of…
Date: April 29, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 30
Docket Number: 16SC783
Justia Opinion Summary: Tommy Gow was walking in a residential neighborhood at abut 2:15 in the morning when he was stopped by police. The deputy pulled up, got out of his patrol car, and asked “what he was up to.” The man, Gow, responded that…
Date: April 29, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 28
Docket Number: 18SA216
Justia Opinion Summary: A series of appeals concerned a dispute over competing rights to irrigation tail and waste water that collected in a borrow ditch. The Colorado Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a driveway that interrupted the…
Date: April 22, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 26
Docket Number: 15SC1096
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved the joinder of two separately filed cases. In the first “Motorcycle Case,”: in three separate instances, a male motorcyclist wearing a leather jacket and a motorcycle helmet that largely concealed his…
Date: April 22, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 27
Docket Number: 18SC18
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Francis Buell was caught shoplifting twice within a one-and-a-half month span: once at a department store, once at a supermarket. The prosecution initially charged Buell in separate cases arising from these…
Date: April 8, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 21
Docket Number: 15SC268
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Robert Ray sought review of the court of appeals’ affirming his convictions for attempted first degree murder, first degree assault, and accessory to first degree murder. The appellate court rejected Ray’s…
Date: April 8, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 23
Docket Number: 16sc413
Justia Opinion Summary: David Calvert was disbarred for various ethical violations, including entering into an oral agreement with a client without complying with the requisite safeguards of Colorado Rule of Professional Conduct 1.8(a). After…
Date: April 8, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 25
Docket Number: 16SC88
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Jeremy Sharrow pled guilty to one count of felony sexual assault (victim under fifteen), and one count misdemeanor unlawful sexual contact. Pursuant to the parties’ plea agreement, the trial court dismissed the…
Date: April 8, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 22
Docket Number: 17SC862
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondents were four Ranch owners who, with notice of the Lake Fork Hunting and Fishing Club’s (the Club) restrictive covenants and bylaws, purchased deeds conferring record title to their respective Ranches. In 2015,…
Date: April 8, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 24
Docket Number: 18SA267
Justia Opinion Summary: After finding himself in custody on an arrest warrant, defendant Shaun Davis wanted someone to contact his girlfriend about retrieving the car he had with him. He invited a police officer to use Davis’s cell phone to…
Date: March 25, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 20
Docket Number: 18SA257
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Benjamin Roina was charged with harassment and assault on an at-risk adult. At his preliminary hearing, Roina’s defense counsel filed a sealed motion with the trial court contesting his competency and…
Date: March 18, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 19
Docket Number: 16SC75
Justia Opinion Summary: The State of Colorado charged James Garner for a shooting at a bar that injured three brothers. The State’s case depended on the brothers’ live identifications of Garner at trial, almost three years later. None of them…
Date: March 11, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 17
Docket Number: 17SC120
Justia Opinion Summary: After observing Crystal Johnson conduct an apparent drug transaction, police officers followed her vehicle and initiated a traffic stop. Officers searched Johnson’s vehicle and seized methamphetamine and a digital scale.…
Date: March 11, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 18
Docket Number: 18SA263
Justia Opinion Summary: As part of an extensive narcotics investigation that spanned almost all of 2017, law enforcement obtained arrest warrants for defendant Amber Threlkel and her significant other, Robert Allen, based on their alleged…
Date: March 11, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 16
Docket Number: 18SA83
Justia Opinion Summary: In a judicial disciplinary proceeding, the Colorado Supreme Court considered the exceptions of now-former Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Laurie Booras to the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline’s (the…
Date: March 4, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 15
Docket Number: 16SC584
Justia Opinion Summary: On the day her trial was set to begin, April Travis told the court that she was hoping she could have more time “to look for and pay for an attorney.” The trial court denied the request to continue the case, noting that…
Date: February 25, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 14
Docket Number: 17SA231
Justia Opinion Summary: The question presented by this appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court was a 1909 water rights decree adjudicated an enforceable water right for the Campbell Ditch in nine springs. Yamasaki Ring, LLC, which owned some of…
Date: February 19, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 12
Docket Number: 16SA256
Justia Opinion Summary: Centennial Water and Sanitation District appealed a water court order dismissing its objection to the Well Augmentation Subdistrict’s ("WAS") proposal to use additional sources of replacement water for its previously…
Date: February 19, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 13
Docket Number: 18SA224
Justia Opinion Summary: A district court denied Elizabeth Tafoya a preliminary hearing. Tafoya was accused of a class four felony, DUI (fourth or subsequent offense). She requested a preliminary hearing on that charge, but the district court…
Date: February 11, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 11
Docket Number: 18SA127
Justia Opinion Summary: Brooks Tower was comprised of 566 residential units, 13 commercial units, and 297 associated garage units. Plaintiff Anthony Accetta and his wife owned a condominium in the Tower. All Brooks Tower unit owners are…
Date: January 28, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 9
Docket Number: 16SC158
Justia Opinion Summary: Police witnessed a car driven by Respondent Simon Kubuugu exit a parking lot, pull into traffic, and make a U-turn that forced other drivers to swerve to avoid hitting him. Kubuugu drive slowly past the police car, and…
Date: January 28, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 8
Docket Number: 17SC312
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2009, Della Gallegos had to undergo three cranial surgeries after her radiologist, Dr. Steven Hughes, failed to detect an obvious brain tumor on an MRI scan three years earlier. Had Dr. Hughes discovered the tumor in…
Date: January 28, 2019
Citation: 2018 CO 10
Docket Number: 18SA150
Justia Opinion Summary: H.J. completed her grocery shopping at a Target store in Arvada and walked to her car. Defendant-appellee, sixteen year old Dominic Barrios was also at the Target. After H.J. entered her vehicle, Barrios opened the back…
Date: January 22, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 7
Docket Number: 16SC990
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue before the Colorado Supreme Court in this case was whether Patrick Wood suffer simultaneous convictions for first-degree felony murder (a class 1 felony) and second-degree murder (a class 2 felony) in 1987 for…
Date: January 22, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 6
Docket Number: 17SA220
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court's review centered on whether a water court had jurisdiction to consider a claim for inverse condemnation alleging a judicial taking of shares in a mutual ditch…
Date: January 17, 2019
Docket Number: 18SA245
Date: January 14, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 5
Docket Number: 17SC139
Justia Opinion Summary: Believing that the decision to stop paying teachers for English Learning Acquisition (ELA) training violated a series of the parties’ Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs), the Denver Classroom Teachers Association…
Date: January 14, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 4
Docket Number: 17SC250
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2014, the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services (the Department) was ordered to take custody of D.Z.B. and house him in a particular facility pending his delinquency adjudication. Believing that the district…
Date: January 14, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 3
Docket Number: 17SC297
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court's review centered on whether the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission properly declined to engage in rulemaking to consider a rule by Respondents, a…
Date: January 14, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 1
Docket Number: 17SC33
Justia Opinion Summary: Whites Corporation donated a conservation easement (CE), and transferred a portion of the resulting CE tax credit to John and Debra Medved. In 2006, the Medveds filed a return claiming the credit. In 2007, Whites…
Date: January 14, 2019
Citation: 2019 CO 2
Docket Number: 18SA180
Justia Opinion Summary: While driving down a highway, a Colorado State Patrol (CSP) trooper observed another driver flash her turn signal twice over a distance of less than 200 feet and then change lanes. Apparently believing he’d just…
Date: January 10, 2019
Docket Number: 18SA272
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
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