In July, 20th Judicial District Chief Judge Ingrid Bakke initially granted a request that a video in the Boulder King Soopers mass shooting case be kept from the public with a similar one-line order that did not follow the rule. Of 24 orders limiting public access identified by the Post in those cases, 20 appeared to comply with the new rule and four did not.īut that data, gathered from cases where the formal suppression process was already under way, doesn’t reveal instances in which the right procedures were completely ignored - a problem that has cropped up in several high-profile court cases this year. In another eight cases, judges issued written orders about the suppression of particular documents, rather than entire case files. Three cases had no public orders on the suppression, and two had orders that did not meet the new standard. The judges must explain why they are making the records secret and say how long the suppression will last.įive cases were fully hidden in Colorado since May none of those complied with the new requirements, according to data and court records provided by the Colorado Judicial Department. Since May, judges in Colorado criminal cases have been required to issue public, written orders whenever they hide criminal cases or court records from public view. The rule change followed advocacy by open records proponents and a 2018 Denver Post report that concluded judges suppressed thousands of court cases for years without public explanation. Judges across the state are not uniformly following the new regulations, which former Chief Justice Nathan Coats last year said were designed to keep cases from “disappearing into a dark hole.” Criminal court records filed since the rule took effect in May show spotty and at times lackluster compliance, the Post’s review found. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close MenuĬourt records in Colorado are still disappearing from the public view with little or no explanation seven months after the Colorado Supreme Court enacted a new rule that barred judges from blocking public access to records without first explaining why, a Denver Post review found.
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