Update: This has just been postponed to a later date.

If you are a Colorado lawyer and support Amendment 64, the November ballot initiative that will legalize personal adult use of marijuana state-wide, take note: Thursday there will be a "Lawyers for Amendment 64" Press Conference.

• What: "Lawyers for Amendment 64" press conference featuring Judge Jim Gray
• When: Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012 at 11:45a
• Where: Denver City and County Building (1437 Bannock St., Denver 80202)
  
• What else: Please wear professional attire!

Via Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol . [More...]

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announced today that he and his wife, Helen Thorpe, are separating. His full announcement:

After years of marriage that have added tremendous love and depth to both of our lives, we have decided to separate. This decision is mutual and amicable. We continue to have the utmost respect for each other, and we remain close friends. We intend to continue functioning as a family that spends a great deal of time together. In fact, we will embark on our annual family vacation together this week, share meals often, and plan to spend holidays together. You can continue to expect to see both of us out in the community – sometimes together, sometimes solo. Please feel free to include both of us in social gatherings as we will not find it awkward.

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Propositions to legalize marijuana will be popping up on ballots this November across the country. Jeralyn wrote last week about Obama, Romney, Marijuana and Colorado, mentioning Colorado’s proposed Amendment 64. Now there’s a new contender attempting to enter the race. Article XXX: The Cannabis Re-Legalization Act (bill text here). And with the new proposed amendment comes the usual slew of talking points and misinformation that can leave us all voting in a haze.

I also briefly addressed the differences in recreational marijuana legalization amendments on the upcoming Colorado ballot in November. However, looking more in depth at the proposed amendments’ texts side-by-side, a much clearer picture emerges of the two radically different approaches to legalizing marijuana and the potential impact on everything from crime policy to worker's rights to child custody situations. And while Amendment 64 does take an important step in the right direction, Article XXX appears to be running full speed ahead.

Aurora movie theater suspect James Holmes is now a defendant, charged with 24 counts of first degree murder, 116 counts of attempted first degree murder, one count of possession of an explosive or incendiary device, and one count which is a sentence enhancement for commission of a violent crime.

The Complaint and Information is here.

The first degree murder charges are under CRS 18-3-102(1)(a) and (1)(d). [More...]

Masterpiece Bakery and its owner Jack Phillips in Lakewood, CO (just west of Denver) are engulfed in a storm of controversy after Phillips told a gay couple picking out their wedding cake he wouldn't make one for them because he doesn't support gay marriage.

Philips claims he isn't discriminating against gays, he will make them birthday cakes or cakes for any other occasion besides a marriage.

Phillips is taking a beating on Facebook and even on Yelp. A large protest is scheduled for next Saturday. Phillips doesn't seem to be fazed.

We would close down that bakery before we closed our beliefs, so that may be what it comes to … we’ll see,” Phillips said.

There are plenty of other bakeries in Lakewood. Elegant Bakeries has won lots of awards for its wedding cakes and is family owned and operated. There's also Et Cetera Gourmet and Cakes by Karen. Masterpiece's discrimination is unacceptable. [More...]

Monday morning, James Holmes, the suspect in the Aurora movie theater shootings, will be advised of the charges against him. The DA previously said in a pleading not under seal there will 12 counts of first degree murder, attempted murder and other charges.

Holmes will not be called upon to plead tomorrow. It is not an arraignment, but an advisement.

There is one motion of interest that will be heard tomorrow -- the defense request for discovery pertaining to leaks about the package Holmes allegedly sent to a psychiatrist/professor (described here.) The DA filed this response, denying it has been established that law enforcement leaked the information. The DA says the news reports got so much wrong, they may just have fabricated their stories. The DA also says their office hasn't yet looked at the contents of the package. It was the Aurora Police Department, not the FBI, who obtained the search warrant, and there was one warrant, not two. [More...]

Update: The judge will set a briefing schedule and hearing date on Monday for a newly filed new motion by the media to unseal the court file. The motion is jointly filed by a variety of local and news groups. With exhibits (which include orders from the unsuccessful Kobe Bryant and Perrish Cox prosecutions), it's 85 pages. As to their request to unseal the docket (called register of actions in Colorado courts) I think the argument is good. We should be able to know what was filed, even if the contents of the actual documents are sealed. I don't think every document filed in the case is deserving of sealing, and a showing should be made with each such request. That said, I hope the media doesn't prevail on its request for public access at this juncture to search warrant affidavits.

Lawyers for James Holmes, the suspect in the Aurora movie theater shootings, today filed this motion requesting discovery concerning the federal and state law enforcement agents who were were aware of or involved in the investigation of the package Holmes allegedly sent to a psychiatrist/professor at C.U., details of which were leaked to the media. [More...]

At the request of the district attorney, Arapahoe County Chief District Court Judge William Sylvester has ordered the University of Colorado not to turn over James Holmes' school records to the media. The media requested the records pursuant to Colorado open records law. The order is here.

In its motion, available here, the People disclosed some of the charges it will be filing against James Holmes. They include 12 counts of first degree murder, numerous counts of attempted murder and other charges.

Yesterday, the Judge granted a defense motion for law enforcement compliance with its order restricting extra-judicial comments: [More...]

The Aurora Police Department has announced there will be no more updates on the Aurora Shootings due to the order entered Monday by Arapahoe County Chief District Judge William Sylvester who is presiding over the James Holmes case.

There were more leaks from law enforcement earlier today, most erroneous. Whatever James Holmes mailed to a professor/psychiatrist at the University of Colorado was sent before the shootings and received Monday. Even reports that Holmes has been spitting on guards are now reported to be false.

Everything in the case has been ordered sealed except the decorum order and denial of expanded media coverage order. [More...]

Arapahoe County District Court Judge William Sylvester entered this order today denying the media's request for expanded media coverage (audio, video and still photography) for Aurora shooting suspect James Holme's advisement on Monday. The hearing is open to the public and media who want to attend in person. The hearing is to advise Holmes of the charges the DA has filed against him.

A federal law enforcement source has leaked details to the media of the specifics of the explosive devices inside Holmes' apartment: [More...]

Aurora shooting suspect James Holmes made his first court appearance today. The full video is above.

Update below: Statement from Arlene Holmes, Jame's mother, about media misconstruing her statement about "having the right person." She was confirming the reporter had reached the right person (her, the mother of James Holmes who lived in Colorado) and not anything about his personality or the shootings, as she didn't know about the shootings when she got the call at 5:45 a.m. Statement below, as read by her attorney:

President Obama arrived in Colorado this afternoon to meet with the victims of the Aurora shootings.

Air Force One landed at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, where he is expected to stay for a two-and-a-half-hour visit. He headed straight to the University of Colorado Hospital, one of several area medical centers that received shooting victims.

Obama will not attend a community prayer vigil, which is scheduled in Aurora Sunday night. He will be briefed on the investigation, officials said, and is expected to address the public before he leaves Colorado.

Aurora Police Chief Oates approves:

"These families need that kind of contact by our elected leader," Oates told CBS' "Face the Nation." ''It will be very powerful and it will help them. As awful as what they've been through and what they're going through has been, having the president here is very, very powerful."

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