Members of the Colorado-based federal appeals court considered on Wednesday whether a judge committed errors in the 2022 civil trial where jurors found Denver liable for $14 million for violating the constitutional rights of protesters.
In the first lawsuit of many to culminate in a jury trial, 12 plaintiffs largely succeeded in arguing Denver’s own actions violated their First Amendment rights, Fourth Amendment rights or both during the demonstrations that began in May 2020. Protesters in Denver and across the world reacted to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, only for law enforcement to use chemicals, projectiles and other force against them.
During oral arguments to a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, the city focused on two of its contentions: That the trial judge erred by allowing testimony from the city’s former police monitor, Nicholas Mitchell, about his investigation, and by giving a legally inadequate instruction to the jury…