New Evidence Stops Trial of Police-Body-Slammed Video Star Michaella Surat

A mistrial has been declared in the case of Michaella Surat, a Colorado State University student who was charged with obstruction and resisting arrest after an April 2017 incident during which her body-slamming by a police officer was captured in a viral video. The reason? New evidence has been discovered by the defense team, led by attorney David Lane, and after learning about it, Judge Joshua Lehman dismissed jurors so prosecutors could review it in more detail.

Mile High Stadium Naming Clusterf*ck and Revenge of the Nerds

This week, crews are removing Sports Authority signage from what has been known in recent years as Sports Authority Field at Mile High, presumably because the Denver Broncos are sick of playing in a stadium emblazoned with the name of a company that declared bankruptcy in March 2016 and liquidated all its assets a few months later. Since acquiring stadium naming rights in August of that year, Broncos executives have tried and failed to line up a new sponsor, and a branding expert says the type of tech companies most able to afford the $10 million per year the team wants are hesitant to get involved in a business relationship that could well conjure painful personal memories.

Convicted Wife Killer Harold Henthorn’s Freedom Bid Ends, Suspicions Don’t

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by Harold Henthorn, who authorities say killed his second wife, Dr. Toni Henthorn, by pushing her off Deer Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2012. In so doing, the jurists let stand a July 2017 affirmation of previous rulings by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which rejected Henthorn’s arguments regarding what his writ to the court calls “the doctrine of chances.” Specifically, the document, on view below, maintains that the original court biased the jury against him by allowing testimony about the suspicious death of Henthorn’s first wife, Lynn, and a serious accident suffered by Toni the year before her death.

Why Colorado Tokers Love Death by Lemons

Conjuring the voice of Katt Williams screaming “This shit right here?!” as he rants about the ridiculous names of pot strains, Death by Lemons might sound like an absurd attempt by the breeder to get some attention, and some tokers think it is.

Unite Colorado’s Plan to Snuff Out Partisan Political Bullsh*t

Although politically engaged folks seem to be at odds over just about everything these days, there’s one thing on which they agree: The current system, in which Republicans and Democrats spend a lot more time arguing than getting things done, is a mess. But Unite Colorado aims to change that, at least here, by way of an ambitious plan to back independent legislators who pledge to put the people’s business in front of endless bickering that accomplishes nothing.

JonBenét Family Lawyer Says Lawsuit Rulings “Pave the Way for Justice”

In October 2016, Burke Ramsey, older brother of JonBenét Ramsey, who was murdered in Boulder on Christmas Day of 1996, filed a $150 million lawsuit against Dr. Werner Spitz, a Michigan-based forensic pathologist who theorized on the CBS program The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey that Burke had killed JonBenét with a blow to the head. A separate $750 million lawsuit against CBS followed, and while Spitz and the network asked that the cases be tossed, Michigan Judge David Groner has now allowed each to move forward in what Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood sees as a much larger victory than representatives for CBS are willing to acknowledge.

Rescinding Cole Memo One of Eleven Ways Trump May Try to Kill Legal Pot

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s announcement about rescinding the Cole memo, an Obama-era Department of Justice document that provided some legal protections for businesses operating in states that allow and regulate cannabis sales, has shaken the marijuana industry in Colorado and beyond. But Justin Strekal, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), isn’t surprised by this action. As we noted last July, Strekal believes an op-ed from the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation enumerating eleven ways the administration of President Donald Trump can kill legal cannabis is being used by Sessions and company as a crackdown guideline, and junking Cole is fifth on the list.

Part of Rashaan Salaam’s Post-Suicide Heisman Sale to Benefit CTE Research

Today, January 8, bidding begins on the 1994 Heisman Trophy awarded to the late CU Boulder star Rashaan Salaam, who killed himself in a Boulder park circa December 2016. Salaam’s brain wasn’t tested for signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a brain disease associated with former football players, including sufferers who met tragic ends, because of religious reasons. However, a portion of the trophy sale’s proceeds is being set aside for CTE research.

JP Sears on His Hilarious Boulder Tribute Video and the Town’s Ultra-Spirituality

JP Sears has gained fame as a comedian, life coach and author of How to Be Ultra Spiritual, which offers readers a guide to achieving “spiritual superiority” in just twelve and a half steps. No surprise, then, that he has a soft spot for Boulder, the recent repeat winner (according to National Geographic) as happiest city in the country, which he lovingly needles in a hilarious video on view below. In conversation, he makes it clear that his fondness for the town is no passing fancy.

DA Sees Ties Between Illegal Pot Sale Murder and Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana-reform advocates who backed Amendment 64, the 2012 ballot measure that legalized limited recreational marijuana sales, argued that its passage would make Colorado safer, because legal businesses would squeeze out the black market and free up law enforcement resources to tackle more serious offenses. But in discussing the recent conviction of Raymundo Ugalde for a murder committed during an illegal pot transaction, George Brauchler, 18th Judicial District DA and candidate for Colorado Attorney General, argues that the state’s cannabis experiment has done just the opposite.