“The Denver Police Department, under Chief Robert White, has become a model for criminal-justice reform across America,” said Mayor Michael Hancock during Monday’s State of the City address at Denver International Airport. That came as news to criminal-justice reformers and activists who have long criticized the department for targeting communities…
Seventeen years after the attack on Columbine High School, amateur sleuths have posted a video that calls into question — again — the official version of events, and their sequence, surrounding the most infamous school shooting in American history. The video features brief, grainy images that appear to show the…
In the annals of court rulings, you won’t find any more tight-lipped or to the point than the order handed down by the Colorado Supreme Court yesterday, in response to a 56-page petition by defense attorneys trying to learn why the presiding judge was abruptly removed from a long-running death-penalty…
A decision by state court officials to remove the presiding judge in an infamous death-penalty case just days before he was expected to issue a long-awaited ruling on thorny issues dealing with possible prosecution misconduct has drawn fire from defense attorneys. They claim that the abrupt dismissal of Arapahoe County…
Caleb Bonham didn’t need a video he shot of a violent pipe attack on the 16th Street Mall to go viral in order to become fifteen-minutes-of-famous. He’s already quite prominent thanks to D/CO Consulting, a firm he co-founded, which advises Fortune 500 companies and U.S. Senators, among others. And he…
“Anyone know what happened at Franklin and 35th?” asked a member of a page devoted to Denver’s Cole neighborhood this past weekend. “Crime scene tape….” “They shot up the house across the street from us, I was outside when it happened,” another member reported. “Police are waiting for the crime…
After a series of highly publicized acts of violence on the 16th Street Mall, including a recent stabbing and a video of a man being assaulted, the Denver Police Department, Downtown Denver Partnership and the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District have unveiled their year-in-the-making plan to maintain order at the city’s No…
Lynette Lindsey-Burton’s son, Devonne Burton, was among three people killed in a North Park Hill triple homicide on June 3 — an incident Denver police say took place as a result of a robbery gone wrong. Former CU Buffs football player Chadd Evans, Deashaun Turrentine and Dejuan Jones have been arrested…
In announcing the arrest of Chadd Evans (spelled “Chad Evans” in the press release) for a triple killing in North Park Hill, the Denver Police Department stated that “a booking photo of the suspect is not being released at this time as additional photo lineups are needed. “Denver Police ask…
Young couples are frequently encouraged to write wills and make estate plans that will be ready in the event of unexpected death — but few of them do so. Such a tragedy seems too unlikely to most to undertake such a sad task. But Travis and Samantha Mason were an…
Our sophomore year in college, my roommate and I decided to spend spring break on a beach in south Texas. One balmy night at our hotel, the guy interested in my roommate spotted a twelve-pack in the middle of the street. At twenty, we were so desperate for alcohol it…
Editor’s note: This post is the third in a three-part series about violence on the 16th Street Mall. Access part one by clicking “Inside the Bloody Stabbing on the 16th Street Mall You Haven’t Heard About.” Access part two by clicking “Denver’s Top Block for Arrests and an Advocate’s Take on…
Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series looking at violence on the 16th Street Mall. To read part one, featuring a Good Samaritan’s story of helping a stabbing victim, click here. A weekend stabbing on the 16th Street Mall that led to two arrests wasn’t an isolated…
Mike Rust, nicknamed “Mike the Bike,” isn’t credited with inventing mountain biking. But he was undeniably a pioneer, helping to popularize the sport both as a competitor and a behind-the-scenes technician whose innovative spirit is still being felt today. Now, finally, his friends, family and loved ones have some closure…
Part 1 This past Saturday night, Erin Chalmers visited the 16th Street Mall with her sister to check out the attendees of some special events in the area. “It was Comic Con and Pridefest and the Greek Festival,” Chalmers says. “We wanted to have a long dinner and watch people…
Last week, we told you about Tim Plybon, a Denver firefighter who’s been accused of indecent exposure for allegedly masturbating in a store at the Town Center of Aurora mall. Now, a woman has come forward to say that Plybon followed her and her girlfriend for as much as two…
Over the past few years, the Denver Fire Department has received more than its share of bad publicity. Note criticism over an alleged lack of diversity in the ranks, the firing of a DFD captain who denied accusations that he used offensive language and a settlement in a lawsuit that claimed…
In recent months, we’ve been keeping you up to date about the murder of Lauren Mann, a former CU student who was killed in Vienna, Austria, where she’d been working as a nanny. Now, a Gambian national identified as Abdou I. — Austrian law precludes his full name from being…
The legalization of limited recreational marijuana sales hasn’t prevented police from staging cannabis-related raids — note the Pueblo County Sheriff’s war on allegedly illegal pot grows, which has resulted in the confiscation of at least confiscated 5,900 marijuana plans and 35 arrests in 25 homes since mid-March. But police agencies appear…
During the summer of 2014, we told you about the arrest of Kelsy Newell-Skinner. She told authorities she awoke after heavy drinking to find her baby daughter, Natalee Skinner-Hurst, horribly beaten. The baby, who was just two months old, died from her injuries. Now, Newell-Skinner has entered a guilty plea…
At first, Carbondale’s Arturo Navarrete-Portillo said he didn’t know why he’d used a machete to kill his wife, Maria Carminda Portillo-Amaya. But he says he knows now. In court this week, Navarrete-Portillo maintained that jealousy over another man’s sexual superiority drove him to commit the horrific act. “She said the other…
In October 2014, we reported not once but twice about allegations that Casey Nocket had defaced a Rocky Mountain National Park, the Colorado National Monument and a number of other federally protected locations. The evidence was at least partly provided by her. She shared images of her “art” on a now-deleted Instagram…
