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  • Cedric Watkins is a father, uncle, entrepreneur-in-training, and a vital community pillar for many others. While behind bars, he has tirelessly devoted himself to serving his peers and his community. He developed gang disaffiliation programs for other incarcerated individuals and is currently involved with Defy Ventures. He sends letters and calls his daughter as much as he can.

    Cedric is currently in prison at Sterling Correctional Facility. He was convicted of aggravated robbery, burglary, kidnapping, theft and sentenced to 80 years; no one was seriously injured or killed. For comparison, a person convicted of second-degree murder in Colorado faces a maximum sentence of 48 years. Cedric has already served 20 years and has fully rehabilitated during that time.

    It’s time to bring Cedric home: acluco.org/redemption. Redemption is real. Clemency is compassion.

  • On November 21, 2016, 13 Aurora police officers responded to a simple noise complaint at Alberto Torres’s home. As happens all too often, Aurora police officers escalated this minor issue into a brutal affair. They beat Mr. Torres solely because he delayed exiting his garage to ask his wife to interpret for him. With that beating, the lives of Mr. Torres and every member of his family were changed and he has yet to recover. ACLU of Colorado fought to obtain justice for Mr. Torres, and Aurora has now paid him $285,000. But money is not justice, and the brutality of the Aurora Police Department against people of color has continued unabated.

    It doesn’t have to be this way.

    Imagine, if instead of 13 officers being dispatched to Mr. Torres’s home for a noise complaint, the City of Aurora sent a civilian-led response team to check on his welfare and ask that he and his friends lower their sound, resulting in a non-violent solution to a minor issue?

    ACLU Settles Case With Aurora After Police Brutalize and Unlawfully Arrest Alberto Torres

  • Hope is a discipline. It’s a commitment that together, we can create a more perfect union. We won’t rest until we fulfill the promise of equal rights for ALL people in the United States.

    Join us in our fight to fulfill this promise and move forward with hope by donating to the ACLU of Colorado. Your donation supports the ACLU’s strengths that make our work effective and collaborative.

    Donate now at https://action.aclu.org/give/support-aclu-colorado

  • Anthony Martinez is 84-years-old and suffering from renal failure, as well as other serious medical conditions including dementia. He is currently incarcerated in the Sterling Correctional Facility, site of one of Colorado’s largest COVID-19 outbreaks with almost 600 active COVID-19 cases. He and his family are understandably terrified that he will catch the virus and die.

    In the midst of this public health crisis, incarcerated people as vulnerable as Anthony, could and should be immediately released to safely live out their remaining years with family.

    Read more about Anthony Martinez and other at-risk incarcerated people. 

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8.12.10

ACLU seeks changes to Denver’s proposed permit laws being revised in anticipation of the Democratic National Convention

 CONTACT: Staff Attorney Taylor Pendergrass, 303-777-5482 x104; 303-817-9502 Executive Director Cathryn Hazouri, 303-777-5482 x116; 303-257-7455 The ACLU Foundation of Colorado today sent a letter to Denver city officials detailing “serious constitutional problems” with the City’s proposed laws for parade and park permits. Although the laws are being revised by Denver in anticipation of the 2008 DNC, the proposed changes would affect all Denver permit requests from the moment.... | Read More

8.12.10

In ACLU lawsuit regarding First Amendment activity during DNC, parties agree on some issues; additional issues remain for federal court resolutions

Attorneys representing the City and County of Denver and the Secret Service, and ACLU of Colorado attorneys representing twelve advocacy organizations, filed documents late Thursday evening in federal district court indicating that they had reached agreement on some of the issues raised in an ACLU lawsuit filed May 1 that seeks to protect the right of free expression during the time of the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August, 2008. The parties filed a document titled Stipulation Regarding.... | Read More

8.12.10

ACLU sues Denver seeking disclosure of DNC-related purchases of police equipment

Invoking Colorado’s open records laws, the ACLU of Colorado filed suit today  in Denver District Court, asking that Denver be ordered to disclose records related to budgeting for and purchase of police equipment dating from January 2007, when Denver was selected as the host city for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The federal government has allocated $50 million to reimburse Denver for security-related expenses connected to the convention. Denver has revealed that $18 million.... | Read More

8.12.10

ACLU sues Denver on behalf of five innocent victims of “mistaken identity” arrests

CONTACT: Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director, 303.777.5482 x114 On behalf of five clients, the ACLU of Colorado filed suit today against the City and County of Denver and various Denver law enforcement officers, charging that in each case, “recklessly sloppy police work” resulted in the innocent plaintiff’s arrest and imprisonment—as long as 26 days in one case—for crimes with which they had no connection whatsoever. The lawsuit describes the ACLU clients as victims.... | Read More

8.12.10

ACLU Holds Press Conference to Respond to Denver Police Department Special Bulletin Asking First Responders to Look for “Stockpiles” of Supplies

The ACLU of Colorado responded to a bulletin—revealed August 20 in the Rocky Mountain News—that the Denver Police Department reportedly issued last week to all police, sheriff, and fire department personnel. The bulletin asks all law enforcement and fire department personnel to be on the lookout for, and to report “stockpiles and caches of supplies” that that could be used by “violent demonstrators” during the upcoming Democratic National Convention. The bulletin.... | Read More

8.11.10

ACLU Files Class Action Lawsuit Challenging Search of Greeley Tax Preparer’s Office

CONTACT: Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director, 303.777.5482 x114 In a class action lawsuit filed in state district court Monday evening, the ACLU of Colorado argued that Weld County Sheriff John Cooke and Nineteenth Judicial District Attorney Ken Buck are violating the privacy rights of thousands of law-abiding taxpayers by keeping copies of confidential information obtained in an illegal search of Amalia’s Translation and Tax Service in Greeley, Colorado, last fall. “The search violated.... | Read More