Author: Blair Miller
Jury convicts Tanner Flores of killing ex-girlfriend Ashley Doolittle; he faces life in prison
LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. – A jury on Wednesday convicted 19-year-old Tanner Flores of killing his ex-girlfriend, Ashley Doolittle, and dumping her body on the Western Slope in June 2016.
Flores faces life in prison after he was convicted on first-degree murder after deliberation, felony murder and second-degree kidnapping charges by the Larimer County. He is set to be sentenced Thursday.
The jury deliberated Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning before returning the verdict.
Flores, of Berthoud, was portrayed by prosecutors as jealous after he and Doolittle broke up during the trial. Prosecutors say he took his father’s gun, asked Doolittle to meet near Carter Lake, and shot her.
But his lawyers had argued Flores didn’t plan to kill her ahead of time.
Flores then drove her body out to near Collbran, on the Western Slope, where he dumped it. But he also told the jury that Doolittle’s murder was not premeditated.
Flores won’t face the death penalty because prosecutors didn’t declare ahead of the trial they would seek it, which is a requirement in Colorado.
He is set to be sentenced at 2 p.m. Thursday, and faces life in prison, plus additional possible time on the kidnapping conviction.
Bennet, Gardner cosponsoring legislation to restore CHIP funding through 2022
DENVER – Both of Colorado’s U.S. senators are cosponsoring a bill that would extend federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through 2022 and make some changes that give states more flexibility in working with the program.
The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing said Monday it anticipates Colorado will run out of its federal funding left over from the past fiscal year for CHP+, the state CHIP program, by January if Congress doesn’t move to extend the funding. Continue reading
Partisan fighting continues to kick off Colorado special session; Senate committee kills measure
DENVER – Republicans in a Colorado Senate committee kicked off the first special session in Colorado in five years by killing one of two measures brought forth by Democrats aimed at fixing a bill-drafting mistake that left several special districts in the state without the ability to collect on a state marijuana tax.
On a party-line vote, the Senate Transportation Committee struck down the first measure, continuing to push Republicans’ stance that the special session is unnecessary and that the tax fix needs to be sent to voters. Continue reading
Colorado’s CHP+ program has funding through January, but state says Congress needs to act quickly
DENVER – Colorado officials say the health insurance program for children and pregnant women has enough federal money left over to remain operational through the first month of the year, but warn the money could be gone after that if Congress does not act to restore funding in the next couple months.
Funding for the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ran out Saturday when Congress failed to act to restore funding for the 2017-18 fiscal year. Continue reading
‘Devastated’: Colorado officials react to deadly Las Vegas Strip shooting
DENVER – Elected officials from Colorado are reacting to the shooting on the Las Vegas Strip that has left at least 58 people dead and 515 injured. Continue reading
Hickenlooper, GOP leadership continue fiery battle over pot tax mistake on eve of special session
DENVER – On the eve of next week’s special session to address a marijuana tax mistake made in this year’s legislative session, Gov. John Hickenlooper blasted state Republicans for playing political games with taxpayer money and said the bipartisan gains made in the Legislature this year had been lost in the “political circus” surrounding the session.
But the same Republicans who he took to task returned the favor, saying Hickenlooper is disregarding state law about raising taxpayer revenues. Continue reading
Indiana troopers in Colorado to interview Daniel Nations over possible connection to teen murders
DENVER – Indiana State Troopers are in Colorado to try and find out whether the man charged with menacing people along a trail outside Colorado Springs with a hatchet is also the suspect connected to the murder of two Indiana teen girls earlier this year.
Troopers arrived in Colorado Friday to further investigate Daniel Nations, 31, who was charged Thursday with felony menacing and reckless endangerment in El Paso County in connection with multiple incidents that happened in the Mt. Herman and Monument areas over the past several weeks.
The Indiana authorities say they are working in El Paso County.
The alleged menacing happened in the same area where a well-known cyclist was found shot to death earlier this month. Nations also faces a felony weapons possession charge in Teller County, and was charged earlier this summer with presenting a false ID to an officer in Georgetown.
But Indiana officials are in the state to try and find out more about whether Nations might be a suspect in the murders of 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams, who were killed near Delphi, Indiana while hiking in February.
An Indiana State Police spokesperson said that they would likely know by next week whether Nations is “a viable subject” in the teens’ deaths.
The agency has said that Nations is one of dozens of people they are looking at as a possible suspect.
Nations was in a Cripple Creek court Thursday on a family-related case, a day after he was in court in Teller County on the weapons charge.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that it anticipates more charges will be forthcoming against Nations, though it’s unclear from which jurisdiction the charges might stem.
Read more information on the Indiana murder case by clicking here.
Indiana authorities have set up an email address and tip line (844-459-5786) to contact them about the case, and are offering a reward of more than $200,000 for tips that lead to an arrest and conviction in the case.
Denver auditor, police department disagree over whether officers working to end racial profiling
DENVER – Denver’s auditor and the Denver Police Department are in the midst of a major disagreement over why the police department has yet to implement the auditor’s recommendations aimed at avoiding racial bias while officers are on patrol duties.
“There is no way to tell if officers are stopping people without bias regarding race, gender or age if officers choose not to document demographic data,” Denver Auditor Timothy O’Brien said Thursday. Continue reading
ICE arrests 63 in Denver during operation targeting ‘sanctuary cities,’ but city pushes back
DENVER – Immigration agents arrested 63 people in Denver as part of a four-day operation that netted nearly 500 arrests in cities federal officials say are “sanctuary” cities, despite Denver’s claim it isn’t a sanctuary city.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the operation, dubbed Operation “Safe City,” “focused on cities and regions where ICE deportation officers are denied access to jails and prisons to interview suspected immigration violators or jurisdictions where ICE detainers are not honored.” The four-day operation wrapped up Wednesday. Continue reading
Menacing suspect arrested near Mt Herman area where cyclist was shot; link to Indiana murders probed
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. – A man arrested Monday on a weapons charge, who is suspected of menacing people in the Mt. Herman and Monument areas where a well-known cyclist was recently found dead, is also under investigation by authorities in Indiana in possible connection to the murder of two teens earlier this year.
Daniel Nations, 32, was arrested Monday by Woodland Park police on a charge of possession of a weapon by a previous offender after an officer pulled him and his wife, Katelyn, over because their vehicle had a broken taillight. Continue reading