Here’s one of the oldest examples of reefer madness we’ve dug up so far for Colorado Cannabis Time Capsule. This article, which ran August 24, 1904, in the Telluride Daily Journal (as well as several other small papers across the state later that week), frames marijuana as a plant that…
The Denver District Attorney’s Office is a big fan of Katie’s Law, which allows the state to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony, in part because of the growing number of times when this evidence links to cases that have long since grown cold. As an example,…
Update: We’ve been following a series of surprising incidents involving Gunsmoke Guns, a Wheat Ridge store that served as the setting of American Guns, a reality TV series that was recently canceled by the Discovery Channel; see our previous coverage below. First, there was a robbery. Then, there was an…
Last week, the FBI added onetime Coloradan Edwin Ernesto Rivera Gracias to its Ten Most Wanted list. In conjunction with this announcement, the agency also put together two other most-wanted compilations focused on Denver, including one called the “Top Ten Fugitives Arrested/Located Within the Denver Division” — although, strangely enough,…
The crime bears all the marks of an assassination: A political appointee with a high-profile position overseeing the state’s prison system answers his door one night and is immediately shot in the chest by an unknown assailant. We have no confirmation at this writing that the attack was carefully planned…
We’ve all seen the public-service announcements that tell television viewers, “Never shake a baby.” But while the delivery of this line may seem overwrought, the message is inarguable: Parents frustrated with a child may actually kill him or her by reacting in a way that may seem totally natural but…
“They didn’t take his phone. They didn’t take his car. Twenty bucks and maybe a pizza? That’s worth his life?” These very good questions are posed by Bernadette Alness, mother-in-law of Nathan Leon, a 27 year old whose second job was as a pizza delivery man. Hours after going missing…
“Strangers are using smartphone apps with GPS to track down children and have sex with them.” That’s the word from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which want to warn parents about the dangers of smartphone apps such Grindr and Blendr, which allow adults…
The combination of St. Patrick’s Day and alcohol can make for a volatile brew. And that’s especially true when the annual March 17 celebration falls on a weekend, as it did this year. The result this time around was at least two metro-area incidents involving gunfire — the first taking…
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has updated its Ten Most Wanted list — an FBI tradition for more than sixty years. The individuals highlighted this time around include one who made the roster due to alleged actions in Colorado: Edwin Ernesto Rivera Gracias, who’s thought to have killed a man…
During the early hours of Sunday morning, a particularly brutal crime took place on Capitol Hill. According to the Denver Police Department, a man was sexually assaulted by not one but two suspects. The pair managed to get away, but the victim was able to provide investigators with detailed descriptions…
Last July, Gary Sheats was more than three times over the legal limit for intoxication when he plowed into a vehicle driven by Heather Surovik, a pregnant 27 year old only days away from delivery. She survived the crash, as did her mom and a five year old also in…
In November 2008, Elijah Archuleta, age two, died due in large part to burns covering 75 percent of his body — and his mother, Isela Reyes-Talamantes, received a twenty-year sentence for her role in his death circa March 2010. Why, then, did it take until the past few days for…
Update below: James Holmes, the suspect in the July 20 shooting at an Aurora movie theater that killed twelve people and wounded seventy others, was widely expected to plead not guilty by reason of insanity at an arraignment hearing today. Instead, Judge William Sylvester entered a not-guilty plea for Holmes…
If police are right, Nebraska’s Adam Manlove is an extremely efficient criminal. Whereas many scofflaws may only commit one offense in a whole day, he’s accused of having stolen four vehicles and caused eight accidents in several different parts of the metro area in fewer than four hours. Even law…
The judge in the Aurora theater shooting case has settled on the advisement that he will read to James Holmes should the suspect plead not guilty by reason of insanity at tomorrow’s arraignment. It includes warnings that if Holmes enters such a plea, he’ll be subject to a court-ordered psychiatric…
A plea deal in the case of Rollin Oliver, the 22-year-old charged with murder in the shooting death of Denver police officer Celena Hollis last June, may be in the works, according to a court document. “There is a possible disposition in this matter,” notes the register of actions, which…
Last month, we reported about the proliferation of free-marijuana giveaways on Craigslist, with respondents getting weed at no charge if they offered a donation or bought something else. Participants insisted that such offers were authorized under Amendment 64, which allows Colorado adults 21 and over to possess small amounts of…
Colorado’s insanity defense laws are constitutional and any court-ordered mental evaluation that Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes might undergo would not violate his right against self-incrimination, prosecutors argue in motions made public Wednesday. The arguments are in response to five motions filed by Holmes’s attorneys last week in which…
The Denver Police Department has dubbed a serial flasher said to be haunting the area near Sloan’s Lake the “Thong Bandit,” even though he’s not accused of stealing anything — except a sense of security for those who’ve been unfortunate enough to lay eyes on his undergarments of choice, and…
Update: On March 6, the family of 21-year-old Zachary Gonzales will be gathering for the sort of event they probably never could have imagined just a week ago — his memorial service, followed by a funeral the next day. Gonzales was killed on February 28. But while his loved ones…
Update: The brutal hit-and-run that took place during the wee hours of Sunday, March 3, near Pho 96, located close to the intersection of Federal and Mississippi, was originally said to have injured three people, two critically. But in the wake of our previous coverage, on view below in its…
