OADC Weekly Case Law Update

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 12/12/2025   Cases: People v. Berumen , 2025COA93 (December 11, 2025); Trial court properly denied choice of evils instruction, and majority upholds 2022 reasonable doubt instruction over Judge Berger's dissent arguing "a real possibility" language is ambiguous and lowers prosecution's burden. Davenport v. U.S. , 607 U.S. ____ (Dec. 8, 2025); Cert...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 12/5/2025   Cases: People v. Romero , 2025COA91 (November 26, 2025); COA holds that a hatchet qualifies as a "knife" under the 2022 menacing statute, reasoning that anything with a handle and blade designed for cutting meets the definition, thus sustaining the felony charge. People in Interest of N.G. , 2025COA92 (December 4, 2025); Division affirm...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 11/21/2025   Cases: People v. Montoya , 2025COA89 (November 19, 2025); the trial court violated Montoya's Sixth Amendment right to a public trial by excluding all spectators from physically attending proceedings. Also, the evidence was sufficient to establish barricading under the failure to leave the premises statute. UNPUBLISHED People v. Thompso...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 11/7/2025 and 11/14/2025   Cases: UNPUBLISHED People v. Sandoval, 22CA0824 (October 30, 2025); the trial court violated Sandoval's right to a public trial by excluding all observers from voir dire to accommodate an extended jury panel. UNPUBLISHED People v. McCall, 22CA1268 (October 30, 2025); structural error occurred when McCall proceeded to tria...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 10/17/2025 and 10/24/2025   Cases: People in Interest of S.G.H., 2025 CO 59 (October 13, 2025); The Supreme Court held that AI-generated deepfake images depicting minors were not "sexually exploitative material" under the statute in effect at the time because they were digitally fabricated rather than digitally reproduced, resulting in dismissal of...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 10/3/2025 and 10/10/2025   Cases: People v. Gregg , 2025 CO 57 (September 29, 2025); Colorado's former habitual criminal sentencing statute is not facially unconstitutional under Erlinger because a jury can adjudicate habitual counts before a judge confirms or rejects those findings. Empaneling a second jury for habitual proceedings is permissible...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 9/19/2025 and 9/26/2025   Cases: UNPUBLISHED  People v. Sanders, Jr. , 23CA0687 (September 11, 2025); Pro se petition alleging ineffective assistance of counsel for the failure to consult with a DNA expert was not wholly unfounded, and he is entitled to the appointment of counsel and further proceedings as outlined in Crim. P. 35(c)(3)(V). UNPUBLIS...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 9/12/2025   Cases: People v. Hollis ,  2025 CO 54 (Sept. 8, 2025); The government can't seek reimbursement for unrecovered buy money as restitution under § 18-1.3-602(3)(a) and (b). People v. Hudson , 2025 CO 52 (Sept. 8, 2025); A person can be guilty of unlawful possession of a financial device for possessing a debit card with someone else's name...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 8/29/2025 & 9/5/2025   Cases: In re. People v. Bell, 25SA254; the Supreme Court issued an order to show cause why the postconviction court did not err in finding that it lacked authority to order the prosecution to provide trial discovery to the defense. People v. Lopez, 2025COA73 (Aug. 26, 2025); First-degree assault under § 18-3-202(1)(a) remains...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 8/22/2025   Cases: UNPUBLISHED  People v. Mares , 23CA1003 (August 21, 2025) The trial court violated Mares statutory right to a speedy trial by setting his trial beyond the 6 month deadline. The trial court mistakenly relied on the COVID exception to the speedy trial provision long after it had lapsed. Further, it's post hoc rationalization that t...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 8/15/2025   Cases: UNPUBLISHED People v. McRae, 23CA0012 (August 14, 2025); The district court erred by denying McCrae's motion to suppress the drugs seized from the backpack in his car because the officers unconstitutionally prolonged the stop by detouring away from investigating the traffic violation without reasonable suspicion that he possessed...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 8/8/2025   Cases: UNPUBLISHED People v. Amoako-Asiamah, 22CA0825 (August 7, 2025); When viewed alongside the other irregularities during the trial, the division could not conclude that Amoako-Asiamah received a fundamentally fair trial, and thus due process, after he was permitted to make a loud, rambling, unsworn statement to the jury during the p...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 8/1/2025   Cases: Terra Mgmt. Grp., LLC v. Keaten, 2025 CO 40, __ P.3d __, 2025 WL 1802067 (June 23, 2025); In a civil action, the Court declares that a trial court may sanction a party for the destruction of relevant evidence if the party knew or should have known that (1) litigation was pending or reasonably foreseeable and (2) the destroyed evid...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 7/25/2025   Cases: People v. Brennan, 2025COA68 (July 24, 2025); A Colorado court cannot exercise jurisdiction over a defendant for unauthorized use and identity theft based on the defendant's solicitation, from a state other than Colorado, of out-of-state services using a Colorado resident's credit card information without the resident's authoriza...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 7/18/2025   Cases: People v. Valles, 2025COA67 (July 17, 2025); The trial court erred by conducting a virtual sentencing hearing without first providing the requisite advisements. However, reversal was not required because sentencing counsel did not object, and the error was not plain. UNPUBLISHED People v. Merriweather, 22CA2203 (July 17, 2025); C...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 7/11/2025   Cases: Ion Media v. West, 24CA1416 (July 10, 2025); Release of body worn camera recordings under CRS 24-31-902(2). People v. Manzanres, 2025COA62 (July 3, 2025); Trial court must make factual findings about how a mandatory protection order impacts the right to familial association, if the MPO improperly deprives a person of this right,...

Cases: People v. Mills, 2025 CO 47 (June 30, 2025); When police seize a citizen's personal property, the police can take as much time as is "reasonable" to obtain the search warrant, even if that amount of time was not "necessary." People in Interest of Kay W., 2025 CO 48 (June 30, 2025); If the court finds that your client waived their right to a jury trial, and the trial is reset, you should red...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 6/27/2025   Cases and Keywords: People v. Gallegos, 2025 CO 41 (June 23, 2025); The plain language of the felony murder affirmative defense statute does not require that a defendant admit that they committed the predicate offense. People v. Schnorenberg, 2025 CO 43 (June 23, 2025); The trial court erred by prohibiting Schnorenberg from testifying t...

We are taking a few weeks off. We'll see you back here on July 31st (or so!)  Thanks! Sarah and Shawndell

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 6/20/2025   Cases and Keywords: UNPUBLISHED People v. Henderson, 22CA1121 (June 18, 2025) Where store employees stop a person from successfully taking property in a shoplifting by force scenario, there is insufficient evidence to affirm an aggravated robbery conviction. There is, however, sufficient evidence to support imposition of a conviction fo...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 6/13/2025   Cases and Keywords: Rivers v. Guerrero, no. 23-1345 (June 12, 2025) A second postconviction petition filed after the district court rules on the first petition is a second or successive federal habeas petition under AEDPA even though the judgment denying the first petition is still up on appeal. Martin v. U.S., No. 24-362 (June 12, 2025...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 6/6/2025   Cases and Keywords: UNPUBLISHED  People v. Black , 22CA0011 (May 29, 2025) Failure to grant a challenge for cause to a biased juror who convicted Black required reversal of the conviction. UNPUBLISHED  People v. Villegas-Ortega , 22CA1509 (June 5, 2025) In a multiple assailant self-defense case, the trial court reversibly erred by failin...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 5/30/2025   Cases and Keywords: Bonde v. People, 2025 CO 24 (May 27, 2025); A person is not entitled to presentence confinement credit for the time served during the nonresidential portion of a community corrections sentence. People v. Ganaway, 2025 CO 25 (May 27, 2025); The majority found that Ganaway engaged in a consensual encounter with the eig...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 5/23/2025   Cases and Keywords: United States v. Wilson, 23-6150 (May 19, 2025) After a judge rejected Wilson's guilty plea, prosecutors used his plea statements against him at trial. The Tenth Circuit reversed his conviction, holding that FRE Rule 410 prohibits using plea statements as evidence absent a breach of plea agreement. Given the damaging...

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 5/15/2025   Cases and Keywords: In re. People v. Chapman, 2025 CO 19 (May 12, 2025) There is no need for the DA to recuse because the judge they normally appear in front of is the named victim of the crime they are prosecuting. In re. People v. Nkongolo, 2025 CO 20 (May 12, 2025) The trial court erred by suppressing Nkongolo's statements as constit...