March 6, 2026 Case Summaries

The majority decides that a violation of a protection order under section 18-6-803.5, always constitutes, as a matter of law, a predicate crime for purposes of second-degree burglary under section 18-4-203. Justice Gabriel dissented because he recognized that the majority’s per se rule of law lowers the prosecution’s burden of proof by relieving it of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that the particular violation is a crime against a person or property

As a matter of first impression, the division determines the meaning of the phrase “causes submission of the victim through the actual application of physical force,” as provided in section 18-3-402(4)(a). And here, the evidence was sufficient to demonstrate that Valdez caused submission of the victim by the application of physical force.

The trial court reversibly erred by refusing to instruct the jury on independent intervening causation where McDonald’s bad driving caused an accident injuring his passenger but there was evidence that the passenger used meth and Fentanyl while at the hospital after the crash but before her death.