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Colorado News Roundup: Judge reverses ruling in Boulder prior restraint case (09.28.16)

CRIME

BOULDER, Colo. — A judge has reversed her ruling barring the Boulder Daily Camera from publishing information contained in an arrest affidavit involving an attempted murder case but the newspaper is still under orders not to use the information for now.

The Daily Camera reports that Judge Maria Berkenkotter changed her ruling Wednesday but put her decision on hold for a week while defense lawyers consider an appeal.



The case involves a 16-year-old boy charged as an adult for allegedly attacking a 71-year-old woman who picked him up while he was hitchhiking Sept. 19.

The Camera got a copy of the document from the district attorney’s office which didn’t know the teen’s lawyers had filed a motion to seal the case.



The judge found that the defense’s privacy concerns were not enough to trump press freedom.

Jury deliberating in trial of man accused of killing cadet

LONGMONT, Colo. — The jury is out in the case of a man accused of hitting and killing a Colorado State Patrol cadet and injuring a trooper while fleeing a traffic stop near Longmont.

The Daily Times-Call reports that a Boulder County jury began deliberations Tuesday to decide the fate of 28-year-old Christopher Gebers.

Gebers is charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in the May 23 death of cadet Taylor Thyfault and the serious injury of Trooper Clinton Rushing during the chase.

Prosecutors say he was fleeing a traffic stop when he came upon an unrelated traffic crash west of Longmont and struck Rushing and Thyfault. Gebers blames a mechanical malfunction on his car for the crash.

SEARCH & RESCUE

Search teams brought in to look for NM hiker near Aspen

ASPEN, Colo. — Search teams from around Colorado have been brought in to help look for an Albuquerque man who failed to return from a hiking trip near Aspen.

About 20 people were being flown into the Maroon Bells Wilderness by helicopter and searching for 49-year-old David Cook on Wednesday.

He was reported missing Sept. 20 after setting out to climb some 14,000-foot-plus mountains, including the Maroon Bells, some of the most famous and most photographed peaks in Colorado.

The search didn’t start until Thursday and weather hampered the search on Friday and Saturday. Parts of the search area are covered in snow.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Colorado considers measures to keep trucks off narrow pass

ASPEN, Colo. — Colorado officials are exploring new ways to keep large vehicles off the narrow, high-altitude Independence Pass after hefty fines failed to stop the problem.

The Aspen Times reports that sheriff’s deputies had to turn around more than 20 semi-trucks one day in July because vehicles longer than 35 feet can’t traverse the narrow, winding mountain pass near Aspen.

The Colorado Department of Transportation and Pitkin County commissioners are considering spending half a million dollars to tackle the issue.

CDOT traffic engineer Zane Znamenacek says the solution involves technology that would identify large vehicles and activate a sign telling them to turn around. He says the county would also pay to build a roundabout to route truck drivers back toward Aspen.

No mechanical issues in bus that crashed at Denver airport

DENVER — Police say they found no signs of mechanical issues with a school bus that crashed earlier this month at Denver International Airport, killing the driver and injuring 18 others.

The Denver Post reports the investigation is still ongoing because an autopsy report of the driver is pending.

Police spokesman Doug Schepman says investigators still need to interview her husband.

It’s still unclear why the Legacy High School bus crashed head-on Sept. 11 into a pillar along one of the airport’s access roads.


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