September 18, 2026 Case Summaries

Surprise, surprise. Justice Boatright signed off on Justice Samour’s redrafting of the COLJI on reasonable doubt. Shocker, I know.

An erroneous jury instruction will not ordinarily amount to plain error when the issue was uncontested at trial or when the record contains overwhelming evidence of the defendant’s guilt. Here, the Court reinforces the “or.” Unless the evidence indisputably shows the government failed to prove an element, an appellate court should not find plain error resulting from an instructional error on an element, if the defense did not contest that element.

Issue #1: The trial court properly exercised its discretion to deny Chilleen’s pretrial motion to bifurcate the felony DUI charge. Issue #2: The trial court properly denied Chilleen’s motion for a new trial based on the failure to bifurcate the felony DUI charge coupled with the prosecutor’s misconduct in closing argument. The division concluded that the “overwhelming evidence” that Chilleen was driving the truck made it impossible for him to establish prejudice. Issue #3: The trial court properly denied Chilleen’s motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence because the evidence was available prior to trial.