All Rise: Colorado Supreme Court Visits Grand Junction

Story By: Ziggy Ross, Tourism Editor

Photos By: Taylor Jakeman and Ziggy Ross

The Colorado Supreme Court visited Grand Junction on Thursday, May 4 to discuss court issues brought to them in recent months and reach a verdict. The event began at 9 a.m. and took place in Love Recital Hall, which is located in the Moss Performing Arts Center on the Colorado Mesa University campus, just off of N 12^th St. 

The issue discussed among the Justices had been through lower trial courts and had moved up to the Colorado Supreme Court to discuss the proper solution. John Marshall, president of Colorado Mesa University, opened the event with a small speech, emphasizing the importance of an event like this. 

“This is not an everyday occurrence,” President Marshall said.  

President Marshall was not the only one to feel this way. Justice Monica Marquez, the soon to be Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, gave insight to the crowd before the event began on where this case came from. 

“This topic is pending in trial court where a legal issue was found,” Justice Marquez said. “So, this court will hear this legal issue.” 

The court then began. Two attorneys were present, as were six of the seven Justices. Each attorney was allowed 30 minutes for their arguments. The defendant was not present for the event. The legal issue at hand was as such: Should individuals convicted of a class one felony be eligible for bail? 

Each attorney made their arguments as Justices provided questions for them along the way. These questions included clarity on the term “capital offense,” which was determined to be up to different individuals and courts, and what bail would look like for a class one felony, which was determined to be at least six figures. On this last determination, Justice Hood gave his insight.  

“It’s almost a moot point because most would not be able to post that bail,” Justice Hood said.  

When this point was brought up, Justice Hart chimed in with her thoughts. 

“We’re not talking about getting bail,” Justice Hart said. “We’re talking about getting a bail hearing.” 

Once both arguments were wrapped up, the Justices left the room for a short recess to discuss the trial and facts they were presented during it. The court has not reached a verdict to be announced yet.  

After the Justices exited the room, Grand Junction citizens at the event were given a chance to ask the present attorneys any questions they had to wrap up the trial. Questions included facts about the case, legal language used, their personal experiences in law, and more.  

“One of the things that we have sought to do as a university is what we call our CMU Civic Forum, and that’s really an opportunity for the university to bring all kinds of disparate voices to Grand Junction at the campus, to expose our students a variety of opinions,” President Marshall said. “This was really the latest in a long series of those Civic Forum events where we got to provide little Grand Junction a window into our justice system.”