Colorado Court of Appeals

Marijuana: Sackings for legal pot backed by judgment against fired man with brain tumor

There's been lotsa debate over just-passed marijuana bills. But lost amid talk about THC driving limits that may prevent MMJ patients like William Breathes from driving legally and a provision that treats pot mags like porn is the impact of marijuana retail on employees and employers. Rulings that s ... More >>

Marijuana: Paralyzed MMJ patient plans Supreme Court appeal over DISH sacking

Last year, Brandon Coats, a paralyzed medical marijuana patient fired by DISH for failing a drug test, filed a complaint over the issue in Arapahoe District Court. When he lost there, attorney Michael Evans brought the case to the Colorado Court of Appeals. Now, those jurists have also rejected Coa ... More >>

Thomas Eric Espinoza: Appeals court affirms murder conviction, rejects insanity defense

Thomas Eric Espinoza, who beat a female neighbor to death and then attempted to mount an insanity defense, has had his conviction upheld by the Colorado Court of Appeals. The case had posed numerous legal challenges, largely because of Espinoza's insistence on representing himself at trial while ple ... More >>

Medical marijuana: Patient fired for failing DISH drug test finds possible loophole

We've recently shared with you the story of Brandon Coats, a paralyzed medical marijuana patient fired by DISH Network for failing a drug test. Coats's appeal is moving forward -- but it turns out he's not the only MMJ patient with a case against DISH. Meet Sonny Meyers.

Medical marijuana: CO Supreme Court ruling leaves patients unprotected, plaintiffs say

Last year, marijuana activists asked the Colorado Supreme Court to hear the appeal of a precedent-setting case involving MMJ patient Jason Beinor, who was fired from his job for failing a drug test. Now, by a 3-2 vote, the Supremes have declined to take up the matter -- a decision the plaintiffs see ... More >>

Cab companies may have bungled insurance for injured drivers, court rules

Call it the latest legal frontier in the city's cab wars. A recent Colorado Court of Appeals decision, reinstating a severely injured Denver Yellow Cab driver's lawsuit against the company's insuror for allegedly failing to offer him adequate insurance, may open the door for similar claims by othe ... More >>

Political ads: "Magic words" ruling that boosts 527s disappoints Colorado Ethics Watch

The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that political organizations dubbed 527s can spend unlimited funds for state candidates as long as the ads they're financing don't include so-called "magic words" such as "vote for" or "defeat." The decision is a disappointment for Colorado Ethics Watch, which b ... More >>

Medical marijuana card not a license to smoke on probation, court rules

The Colorado Court of Appeals has weighed in on the question of whether a medical marijuana patient can smoke while completing a probationary sentence that specifically nixes drug use. The judges' answer in a decision on view below? A resounding "no" justified in part by references to the case of Ja ... More >>

Medical marijuana lawsuit: State says no one in Colorado has fundamental right to MMJ

Kathleen Chippi.​On June 30, Kathleen Chippi and supporters filed a lawsuit claiming that medical marijuana regulations violate the state constitution, which made MMJ legal in Colorado. Now, the state has responded by arguing in part that patients don't have a fundamental right to use medical ... More >>

A now-vacant building proves to be a lucky location for politicians

Beauvallon Corp and developer Craig Nassi win a round in Colorado Court of Appeals

​Craig Nassi and the Beauvallon Corp, original owners of the beleaguered Beauvallon building, won a round in the Colorado Court of Appeals, where last week a three-judge panel reversed the findings of Denver District Court Judge Norm Haglund, and tossed a verdict worth more than a million to M ... More >>

Molly Midyette legal appeal: Special prosecutor to replace Boulder DA Stan Garnett

Molly Midyette.​The prosecution of Molly and Alex Midyette by the Boulder District Attorney's Office led to convictions for both regarding the 2006 death of their twelve-week-old son Jason. But now Molly is appealing her sixteen-year prison sentence, arguing Alex and his powerful family sabota ... More >>

Ward Churchill case heading to Colorado Supreme Court: Not about 9/11, attorney says

Ward Churchill.​Last November, when the Colorado Court of Appeals rejected ex-CU prof Ward Churchill's bid to get his old job back, attorney David Lane admitted that "the odds of either the Colorado Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court looking at the case are slim." But he and Churchill hav ... More >>

Molly Midyette: Court of Appeals dismissal part of Molly's plan, says lawyer

​As described in "Bedtime Story," Molly Midyette was sentenced to sixteen years for the death of her infant son, Jason, in one of the most sensational Boulder cases in years -- something she now says was unfair because her ex-husband Alex Midyette and his powerful family allegedly sabotaged he ... More >>

Medical marijuana: Ft. Collins PD returns Frank Marzano's seized grow gear (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Corry and Marzano.​Update: Yesterday, the Fort Collins Police Department returned growing equipment and other property seized from medical marijuana grower Frank Marzano way back in 2007, during a hunt for a fugitive that turned into a pot raid. Last year, a Colorado court ruled that the searc ... More >>

Medical marijuana advisory committee shuts down, health dept. rejects caregiver definition

Brian Vicente.​In February, a meeting of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's medical marijuana advisory committee resulted in a definition of caregivers that cheered committee member Jill Lamoureux, who called it "movement forward for patient and caregiver rights." Now, ... More >>

Benjamin Whitmer, Ward Churchill's onetime online champion, chooses books over flame wars

Whitmer.​The Colorado Court of Appeals recently rejected ex-CU professor Ward Churchill's bid to get his old job back. Benjamin Whitmer, whose Try-Works blog rallied pro-Churchill forces when the controversy over his firing was at its hottest, thinks that's wrong. But he's moved on from what h ... More >>

Ward Churchill defending Constitution, Court of Appeals trashing it, says David Lane of CU case

Ward Churchill.​Controversial University of Colorado at Boulder professor Ward Churchill has lost his latest bid to get his old job back, with the Colorado Court of Appeals upholding Denver District Court judge Larry Naves's earlier ruling; read it in its entirety below. The decision angers Ch ... More >>

Denver voter guide helps to clear the bench mystery: Kenny Be's Worst-Case Scenario

Jeering the judges to help cheer the bench.​ After the election-day stress of choosing the least objectionable candidate and making sense of the Amendments, voters are asked to decide upon the retention of a mysterious list of unknown State, District and County judges. In an effort to help edu ... More >>

"Labia lift" and other humiliations described in letter from prison

Krystal Voss.​As any viewer of MSNBC's Lockup knows, prison is about punishment, plain and simple, not rehabilitation or even "correction." But does that mean it has to be dehumanizing, too? Put aside the sadistic guards and power-mad wardens of pulp fiction who enjoy making their charges gro ... More >>

CSU gun ban: Another school weapons prohibition bites the dust

Is Cam the Ram about to become Cambo?​Colorado State University System officials voted unanimously Wednesday to rescind the school's hotly contested campus gun ban in response to a court ruling last month that wiped out a similar prohibition at CU-Boulder. The CSU ban, which was passed earlie ... More >>

Gun ban lifted at CU: Promote safety by hiring this clown!

The University of Colorado at Boulder's on-campus gun ban has been junked by the Colorado Court of Appeals. So how to promote gun safety if attendees can begin arming themselves before chem class? Perhaps by adapting DIRC (Dangerous Irresponsible Rider on Campus), a program intended to promote safe ... More >>

Guns on campus: CSU faces lawsuit in wake of court tossing CU's concealed-carry ban

​As promised, the Rocky Mountain Gun Owner's Club has filed suit against Colorado State University for its board's recent ban of concealed weapons on campus. With the suit filed on the same day as a Colorado Court of Appeals decision to throw out CU-Boulder's similar ban, it might have more am ... More >>

Pot power players Who's Who in Colorado: The anti-marijuana team

​Keeping track of all the individuals and organizations duking it out on the front lines of the state's medical-marijuana debate is trickier than picking through the med strains at your corner dispensary. To help weed through the chaos, we've created this guide to the state's top marijuana pow ... More >>

The top ten ways your medical marijuana caregiver can show he really cares

Attorney General John Suthers has to admit: Medical marijuana can be taxed

"When I said, 'Put that in your pipe and smoke it,' I didn't mean it like that!"​Attorney General John Suthers has been the high-ranking state official most likely to imply that the sky is falling in relation to medical marijuana. No wonder he cheered a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling in the ... More >>

Senator Chris Romer's medical-marijuana ideas put many dispensaries -- and younger patients -- in the crosshairs

Senator Chris Romer's gone to pot as an issue -- and medical-marijuana boosters don't like all his ideas.​Earlier today, we told you about a Boulder Daily Camera article in which Senator Chris Romer predicted that half the dispensaries in the state would go out of business if some of the ideas ... More >>

Medical-marijuana businesses should police themselves, says advocate Rob Corry

Rob Corry thinks a trade association would do a better job of keeping dispensaries in line that the government.​Attorney Rob Corry has been on a roll of late, having won over Judge Larry Naves in a recent Denver District Court proceeding that voided a Board of Health ruling about the definitio ... More >>

Senator Al White's proposal to put the state in charge of growing and distributing medical marijuana

Senator Al White wants state and federal marijuana laws to peacefully co-exist. Good luck.​A Colorado Court of Appeals decision regarding medical marijuana -- as well as a subsequent Board of Health move to strike its definition of caregiver -- has led to a motion filed by pro-marijuana advoca ... More >>

Tips for medical-marijuana dispensaries wanting to comply with new Board of Health ruling

​The Colorado Court of Appeals ruling in the Stacey Clendenin case, which stated that medical-marijuana caregivers must do more than simply supply the product in question, led the state's board of health to strike its caregiver definition -- a move that's caused confusion and panic among medic ... More >>

Sensible Colorado tries to draw a crowd to Board of Health's medical-marijuana hearing

​As Patricia Calhoun points out in this morning's Wake-Up Call, the Colorado Board of Health is holding an "Emergency Rulemaking Hearing" at 10:30 a.m. this morning; it takes place in Building A at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment headquarters, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive S ... More >>

Everything you wanted to know about recent medical-marijuana developments -- but were afraid to ask

"Does 'regulatory whiplash' count as a medical-marijuana ailment?"​State medical-marijuana rules have always been ridiculously vague and confusing, leading to the riotous growth of the local dispensary industry. Last week, the Colorado Court of Appeals weighed in on the matter, and this mornin ... More >>

John Suthers buzzing on Stacy Clendenin medical-marijuana ruling

"Why is everyone getting so worked up over little ol' me?"​In September, Joel Warner wrote a blog entitled "Could Clendenin Case Deal a Blow to Colorado's Pot Biz?" Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, who's been trying to put the medical-marijuana genie back in the bottle, certainly hopes ... More >>

Headed West owner on the saving of his hookah mural

Headed West owner Mike Mahaney in front of his mural.​Just because the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled against the City of Englewood in its effort to get rid of an Alice In Wonderland-inspired mural featuring a hookah-puffing insect doesn't mean Headed West owner Mike Mahaney, the man who comm ... More >>

Could Clendenin case deal a blow to Colorado's pot biz?

​As noted in this week's cover story, "Pot of Gold," while Colorado's Amendment 20, which legalized marijuana in 2000, does not cover the subject of marijuana dispensaries, a flood of such operations are opening statewide under the auspices of a complicated legal framework that's evolved withi ... More >>

DA Carol Chambers: Avoiding the inevitable

Carol Chambers. As Westword's Alan Prendergast has reported in a series of blogs, Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. has ordered district attorney Carol Chambers to appoint a special prosecutor in the case of Julie Stene, who says she was sexually assaulted after a 2000 high school gr ... More >>

The week ahead: From the election to the economy, it's scary

A pro pulls a con game in Jefferson County

Post Editorial Attacks Bill Inspired By Its Own Pulitzer Finalist

Kink in the System

Commerce City is taking the Enclave BDSM club all the way to the Supreme Court.

Legally Binding

The Enclave gave Commerce City quite a beating in court.

When Mistakes Don't Matter

The Colorado Court of Appeals upholds a sentence based on questionable evidence.

Smoked

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Lingua Franca

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Will Terry Baker survive? Fill in the blanks.

Juris Prudence

DA Dave Thomas surrenders the case against wayward juror Laura Kriho.

Justice Delayed

With the right defendant pulling the strings, Colorado's domestic-violence system can be tied into knots. A victim's story.

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WHOSE DIVORCE RECORDS ARE SEALED? READ ALL ABOUT IT.