After nearly eighteen years in jail, authorities determined that Robert Dewey did not rape and murder nineteen-year-old Jacie Taylor in 1994. He was released in May of 2012 after DNA testing exonerated him. Now, his case has inspired a new bill that would allow individuals wrongfully convicted to receive compensation…
The smell of buttered popcorn drifted into the parking lot as survivors of the July 20 shooting that killed twelve people and injured seventy made their way last night toward the front doors of the remodeled Century 16 theater in Aurora for its official reopening. Inside, they were greeted by…
Jeffrey Clawson looks like exactly what he was — a pharmacist. But Colorado Attorney General John Suthers believes he was also something more. Fifteen people have been charged in a three-state Oxycodone ring, and according to an indictment below, Clawson was a key player because of his willingness to fill…
Reports of an Adams County deputy killing a dog after responding to the wrong address undoubtedly caused a case of déjà vu for locals, since it followed a dog shooting by a Commerce City cop that was captured on video in November; see it below. That officer was subsequently charged…
In Colorado, we know the term “hypothermia,” a condition denoting dangerously low body temperature. Less commonly heard in these parts is “hyperthermia” — suffering from an abnormally high body temp. But a coroner has determined that William and Tyler Jensen, ages two and four, died of the latter after being…
At 5 p.m. today, the Aurora Century 16, the site of the July 20 attack that killed twelve, officially reopens following a ceremony featuring Governor John Hickenlooper and many others. Some family members have called for a boycott of the event — an indication of the strong emotions stirred by…
Details are still emerging about a high-speed police chase yesterday that ended with one suspect dead, four others in custody, and a Denver police officer identified as Robert Motyka hospitalized after a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. Speculation about what started the chase focuses on the death of an infant in Thornton…
This week’s cover story, “The Lifers Book Club,” reports on the Words Beyond Bars Project, a pilot progam at the Limon Correctional Facility that puts high-security prisoners, many of them serving life sentences, in a room with volunteers to discuss great books. It’s a modest effort that could transform lives…
Nearly six months after the mass shooting in Aurora, Cinemark, the owner of the theater where the massacre occurred, is reopening the site to the public on Friday, sparking backlash from victims’ families. More debate could arise about some of the movies being screened for free over the weekend –…
Update: The Denver coroner’s office has identified the woman murdered Friday night on Pearl Street as Heather Hurd, a 44 year old from Littleton. One connection between Hurd and Clifford Fordyce, the man accused of killing her: They were friends on Facebook — an online relationship that hadn’t been going…
Periodically, we post about unsolved murders in Denver — and one of the ten cases we featured last May focused on the 1994 slaying of Jacqueline Gallegos. Now, however, a grand jury has indicted three men — Andre Jackson, Samuel Sims and Jackie McConnell — with the grisly and shocking…
At least eight lawsuits have been filed against Cinemark, owner of the Aurora Century 16, where twelve people were killed and seventy injured in a July 20 attack. (The theater will reopen tomorrow.) Now, however, a newly filed suit targets different parties: Dr. Lynne Fenton, who provided psychiatric care for…
Last August, just over a week after the Aurora theater shooting, we checked movie-ticket websites for the shuttered Aurora Century 16 and were shocked to discover that a user review making light of the tragedy was on the Movietimes.com page. With the theater set to reopen on Thursday, we looked…
His doctors have told Darrell Havens that surgery could help relieve his deteriorating condition, but the wheelchair-bound inmate’s keepers in the Colorado Department of Corrections aren’t exactly eager to okay the operation — or to release him to seek care on his own. Havens, who was left a quadriplegic by…
Since the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, lawmakers across the country have been debating what policy solutions could help reduce the risk of a devastating massacre in the future. In Colorado, some Democratic legislators have proposed tighter restrictions on access to guns. But a few have a different idea…
Last week, we reported that a flash-mob protest at FlatIron Crossing in Broomfield quickly turned confrontational, resulting in five arrests. Organizers of the First Nations protest, which plans another rally tonight, are questioning why cops intervened, given that the mall has been the site of many peaceful flash mobs in…
This morning, Judge William Sylvester granted a defense motion to continue the arraignment of alleged Aurora theater shooter James Holmes until the week of March 12. But just after the brief hearing was adjourned, a man later identified as Steve Hernandez, father of victim Rebecca Wingo, who died in the…
The Aurora Century 16, where James Holmes allegedly killed twelve and injured seventy, is slated to reopen next Thursday, January 17. But the attempts by Century 16 owner Cinemark to move on haven’t stopped the shooting-related lawsuits against the firm that have appeared regularly over the past six months. The…
A judge has ruled that there’s enough evidence to try alleged Aurora theater shooter James Holmes for murder. Holmes is accused of killing twelve people and injuring seventy others by opening fire at the Century 16 theater on July 20. He’ll be back in court Friday at 9 a.m. for…
Through witness testimony, prosecutors this week laid out a timeline of the actions accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes took in the months before the July 20 attack. The earliest date mentioned was April 19, when he set up a Match.com profile. The last was July 19, when Holmes allegedly…
On the first day of Colorado’s legislative session, dueling protests competed for the attention of passersby on either side of Lincoln Street. As the crowd at the Capitol for a pro-guns rally grew, an anti-fracking group remained small. Still, both shouted, sometimes at the Capitol and a few times directly…
The Denver coroner’s office has released its list of homicides in Denver during 2012, and the total of forty is down from 47 in 2011. Indeed, 2011 saw forty homicides through the first three-quarters of that year, while 25 took place during the initial nine months of 2012. But that…
