Court Cases

The ACLU of Colorado filed an appeal on behalf of a person incarcerated in the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) whose case challenging a prison disciplinary conviction was dismissed because he missed the deadline for filing. Our client alleges he did everything he could to file on time and only missed the deadline because of CDOC’s own delay in providing him the documents he needed. The lower court agreed he had shown good cause for filing late but concluded it had no choice but to ignore those circumstances and apply the deadline strictly to bar his claims.

The ACLU of Colorado filed a class action lawsuit seeking a declaration that state of Colorado officials are illegally confining hundreds of children in dangerous detention facilities instead of providing them with community services.

The ACLU of Colorado joined ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project, Civil Rights Corps, Professors Kellen R. Funk and Sandra G. Mayson, and the Korey Wise Innocence Project in support of a petition for rehearing regarding the state constitutional right to bail.

The ACLU of Colorado is appealing the Silverthorne Municipal Court order that wrongfully sentenced Mr. Tettamanti to three days in jail for contempt.

The ACLU of Colorado filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for certiorari asking the Colorado Supreme Court to decide whether the state hospital’s nine-month delay in sending Mr. Vernagallo to restoration services is attributable to the government for the purpose of his constitutional right to a speedy trial.

The ACLU of Colorado and National ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in the Court of Appeals in a case challenging the Adams County Detention Facility’s ban on in-person and contact visitations.

The ACLU of Colorado joined the Innocence Project and the Korey Wise Innocence Project to submit Amici Briefs in support of challenges to the admissibility of firearm toolmark analysis.

The ACLU of Colorado filed an amicus brief arguing that Colorado’s Sexually Violent Predator designation is punishment.

In a precedent setting opinion, the court stated that “the use of less-lethal munitions—as with any other type of pain-inflicting compliance technique—is unconstitutionally excessive force when applied to an unthreatening protester who has neither committed a serious offense nor attempted to flee."