ALAMOSA—A division of the Colorado Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments at Alamosa High School on Tuesday, March 14, and at Salida High School on March 16, before audiences of students. While space will be limited at both schools, the public also is invited to attend.
In addition, the three-judge division will meet with students from Alamosa Elementary School and from Longfellow Elementary School in Salida, and conduct meetings including continuing legal education sessions with members of local bar associations and other groups.
The high school visits are part of the Colorado Judicial Branch’s Courts in the Community, the outreach program the Colorado Supreme Court and Court of Appeals initiated on Law Day (May 1), 1986. The Courts in the Community program was developed to give Colorado high school students firsthand experience in how the Colorado judicial system works and illustrate how disputes are resolved in a democratic society.
These are not mock proceedings. The court will hear arguments in actual cases from which it will issue opinions. The court generally issues opinions within a few weeks of the arguments.
The 22 judges of the Colorado Court of Appeals sit in divisions of three judges to hear cases. Judges hearing cases at Alamosa and Salida High Schools are Robert D. Hawthorne, Karen M. Ashby and Rebecca R. Freyre. Senior Judge Russell Carparelli will replace Judge Ashby for one of the hearings at Alamosa High School.
The two cases to be heard at Alamosa High School are:
Proceedings at Alamosa High School, 805 Craft Drive in Alamosa, will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 14; proceedings at Salida High School, 26 Jones Avenue in Salida, will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 16.
Question-and-answer sessions, during which the students may ask questions of the attorneys, will follow the arguments in each case. Students also will have the opportunity to participate in a question-and-answer session with the Court of Appeals judges.
There will be a limited number of seats for the public. Video recordings from the two arguments will be available online within one to two days of the arguments at http://www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/Court_Of_Appeals/Oral_Arguments/Index.cfm.