A federal judge has dismissed a shareholder lawsuit that claimed Anadarko Petroleum sacrificed safety at its Colorado wells and pipelines to boost its profits. U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal ruled Wednesday the lawsuit didn’t support the claims against Anadarko and three of its executives. MORE: Oil and gas industry coverage by The Colorado Sun […]
Crime and Courts
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
The red flag bill again thrusts Colorado’s sheriffs into the gun debate — with legal questions, strong emotions and Facebook letters
For Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin, House Bill 1177 is indeed a red flag — a warning for just how far Colorado is from enacting meaningful mental health legislation. That, he believes, should be where the discussion and energy is focused. Not on guns. Instead, the measure has roused the same partisan and pro-gun/anti-gun battles […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, Politics and Government
Man barricaded himself inside governor’s office at Capitol before being arrested
A 39-year-old man barricaded himself inside the lobby of the governor’s office at the Colorado Capitol on Tuesday before being tased and arrested by law enforcement officers. Adil Mazmanov was not armed and made no specific threats against Gov. Jared Polis, who was not on the Capitol grounds at the time, said Trooper Josh Lewis, […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Colorado sues Trump administration for money withheld over immigration enforcement
Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser are teaming up to sue the Trump administration over its decision to withhold $2.7 million in public safety funds because of the state’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. “We don’t have these funds because the Trump administration is attempting to withhold the money if […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
A one-day sentencing reduction for some Colorado crimes would help legal immigrants avoid deportation
Reducing the maximum sentence for some low-level crimes by a single day would help Colorado’s legal immigrants stay off of the federal deportation radar and could lighten the caseload for state and municipal courts. Under current state law, a Class 2 misdemeanor — which includes offenses ranging from criminal mischief to violating the state’s bingo […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
What you need to know about Colorado’s current death penalty law
Colorado lawmakers may soon repeal the death penalty in the state, so that makes this a good time to brush up on how the law actually works. Here’s a guide. Not every murder case is eligible for the death penalty Prosecutors in Colorado can seek a death sentence only in murder cases, but they must […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
He survived the Aurora Chuck E. Cheese shooting 25 years ago. A possible death penalty repeal is bringing it all back up.
COLORADO SPRINGS — He remembers the hum of the vacuum cleaner, the sound of closing time at the Aurora Chuck E. Cheese restaurant where he worked in 1993. He remembers the dishes and the clatter they made when he dropped them to the floor after being shot in the face. He remembers the sight of […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Colorado law mandates which drugs be used for lethal injection. So what happens when they are no longer made?
Since the state’s last execution more than 20 years ago, Colorado juries have mulled capital punishment, and advocates on both sides have debated the merits of its deterrent effect, its morality, its cost and any number of factors related to its application. But amid nationwide controversy surrounding availability of drugs used for lethal injection, one […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, Opinion
In 1997, Colorado’s first execution in 30 years marked a watershed moment. But did it change the conversation about capital punishment?
In the course of Colorado’s long conversation about capital punishment, the execution of Gary Lee Davis in 1997 would seem to be a significant mile marker on the road to resolving a question that has long divided the state’s residents. It had been 30 years since the state executed Luis Monge in the gas chamber, […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
TIMELINE: The death penalty in Colorado
The first murderer to be executed in Colorado — 160 years ago this April — was hanged from a cottonwood tree near Cherry Creek after a legal process that took all of three days to go from crime to punishment. The hanging of John Stoefel, who, in killing his brother-in-law, had committed Denver’s first murder, […]