Editor’s Note: This story contains brief descriptions of sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact that may be upsetting for some readers.
An Eagle County man was convicted Friday on six counts related to sexual assault charges brought against him back in 2019.
A jury found George Brown, age 32, guilty of sex assault, a class 4 felony; attempted sex assault and unlawful sexual contact two counts on each charge for the two women that Brown assaulted while they were intoxicated back in February of 2019.
After a weeklong trial last week, a 12-member jury found Brown not guilty on one charge of misdemeanor trespassing and guilty on the other six counts brought against him by the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Kelli Duncan/kduncan@vaildaily.com
In the second day of the trial of Curtis Shewfelt, a Craig man accused of transporting drugs to an alleged Eagle County dealer, the defense worked to block the prosecution from utilizing a central element of their case: a series of text messages between Shewfelt and the dealer.
Shewfelt currently faces charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute, both class 3 drug felonies, in a long and bumpy case that all began July 13, 2017.
In the early morning hours of July 13, Shewfelt rode in the passenger seat of his black Chevy pickup truck as his friend, Holiday Sanchez, was tailed by police for allegedly swerving on Interstate 70 near Vail. Sanchez did not pull over, but rather sped up and tried to evade police before crashing in the Avon Road roundabout in Avon, according to police reports and testimony given Tuesday.
Kelli Duncan/kduncan@vaildaily.com
The trial of a Craig man accused of trafficking drugs in Eagle County began Tuesday after more than four years of dismissals, an appeal, and a mistrial.
In the first day of the trial of Curtis Dean Shewfelt, the prosecution characterized Shewfelt as a reckless drug dealer who was found in a car containing heroin in 2017 and later arrested on evidence that he was on his way to deliver to another dealer in Gypsum.
Shewfelt and his friend Holiday Sanchez were delivering heroin “across the Front Range” from Loveland to Gypsum, arriving in Vail in the early morning hours of July 13, 2017, lead prosecuting attorney Johnny Lombardi said in his opening remarks.
The Eagle County Justice Center in Eagle.
A requirement that bond hearings occur within 48 hours of arrest. A push to recalibrate the punishments for misdemeanor crimes. An effort to allow more people to seal their criminal records to leave their worst mistakes behind them. Banning law enforcement from directing medical professionals to use the powerful sedative ketamine.
These are a few of Colorado’s newest laws that seek to reform the state’s criminal justice system at various points in the process. State lawmakers wrapped up their latest legislative session on June 8, and in the weeks that followed, Gov. Jared Polis has been signing bills into law.
Kelli Duncan/kduncan@vaildaily.com
The Avon man accused of leaving the scene after hitting a pedestrian with his car came before the court Thursday for a pretrial hearing that revealed more about what happened that night in December of last year.
Tyler Walker, 31, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious bodily injury, a Class 4 felony, after he struck Andrew Dolan, 46, with his car just after 7 p.m. on Dec. 5.
Walker was traveling westbound on Highway 6 when the front right of his vehicle struck the right side of Dolan, who was crossing the highway from south to north from the Highway 6 East/Stone Creek Drive bus stop, according to an affidavit detailing the incident.