The Colorado Supreme Court published four opinions on Monday, September 14. Read the summaries and full opinions, below.
Teran Sanchez v. People, 2026 CO 60. In a unanimous opinion by Justice Boatright, the court upheld Colorado’s 2023 model criminal reasonable-doubt instruction. The justices held that defining proof beyond a reasonable doubt as proof leaving jurors “firmly convinced” of guilt, coupled with the direction to acquit if there is a “real possibility” the defendant is not guilty, neither lowers the prosecution’s burden nor shifts it to the defendant. The court also found no reasonable likelihood that the jury understood the instruction, trial court comments and prosecution statements collectively as permitting conviction under a standard below reasonable doubt. The district court judgment affirming Alexis Teran Sanchez’s alcohol-impaired-driving-related convictions was affirmed. Read the opinion.
T.L.P. v. People in the Interest of T.T.M.P., 2026 CO 61. The court held 5–2 that a father could appeal the dismissal of a dependency-and-neglect proceeding under the unusual circumstances presented. Although the petition itself had been dismissed, an adverse temporary custody order had moved the child to the mother in Kansas and effectively became permanent when the case was dismissed, depriving the father of his parental rights without further review. The Supreme Court therefore concluded the dismissal constituted a final, appealable order and reversed the Court of Appeals’ dismissal for lack of jurisdiction. Justice Blanco, joined by Chief Justice Márquez, dissented. Read the opinion.
SCP 3330 Brighton OPCO, LLC v. Mountain Cement Co. LLC, 2026 CO 62. In a unanimous C.A.R. 21 opinion by Justice Gabriel, the court clarified when an amended pleading can revive a previously waived right to a civil jury trial. The court held that adding new legal theories or additional details based on the same underlying facts isn’t enough: the amended pleading must introduce new triable issues that were not raised in the original pleadings. Because the Source Hotel owners’ amended claims for continuing trespass, continuing nuisance and exemplary damages arose from the same cement-dust allegations as the original complaint, their amended complaint did not revive their waived jury-trial right. The court made its rule to show cause absolute and remanded the case. Read the opinion.
People v. Sloan, 2026 CO 63. In an unanimous decision, Justice Samour wrote that an admittedly erroneous sentence-enhancer instruction in a vehicular-eluding case did not constitute plain error because the incorrectly phrased issue was not contested at trial. The interrogatory asked whether “the accident” resulted in death when the statute required proof that the “vehicular eluding” resulted in death. Sloan’s defense, however, was that he wasn’t driving the vehicle—not that the eluding failed to cause the two deaths. The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, emphasizing that an unobjected-to instructional error ordinarily does not amount to plain error when the issue was uncontested or the evidence of guilt was overwhelming. Read the opinion.