For the second time in as many months, another convicted resident who was being held in community corrections escaped a felony charge for not returning to authorities when required.
Citing a precedent set in a Mesa County case last month, a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that District Judge Richard Gurley was correct when he dismissed a charge of felony escape for Austin Urquhart, referring the matter to county court on a lesser misdemeanor count of unauthorized absence. Gurley did that because of a new law approved by the Colorado Legislature earlier this year designed to free up jail space for nonviolent offenders.