On Thursday, January 29, 2026, Colorado Politics reported that the Colorado Court of Appeals overturned a defendant’s convictions for robbery and his subsequent 18-year prison sentence. The decision came after a Douglas County judge allowed a biased juror, identified as “J.H.,” to serve on the jury for Ahmarion Kaliel Shead’s trial in January 2023.

During jury selection, J.H. indicated on a questionnaire that he was “pro-law enforcement” and disclosed that a relative worked for the police, and other family members had been crime victims. When questioned about his ability to remain fair and impartial, J.H. responded, “Depends.”

Further questioning by the prosecution and defense regarding his view of law enforcement witnesses revealed that J.H. stated he would give law enforcement more credibility than someone he had “no idea about.” He also expressed that he would give law enforcement a “small leg up just by the nature of trust” and that he was “more apt to put a little more trust in an officer of the law than I am a random person.” J.H. added that most people in law enforcement have “lofty ideals that inherently attract a degree of trust from me just because of the sacrifice they make on a personal level.”

In his final statement, J.H. concluded that “at baseline, a law enforcement officer would have increased credibility.” The defense sought to dismiss J.H. for bias, but then-District Court Judge Patricia Herron declined to remove him, and he ultimately served on Shead’s jury.

The three-judge Court of Appeals panel, consisting of Judges Grant T. Sullivan (author), Terry Fox, and W. Eric Kuhn, determined that J.H.’s statements exhibited bias and that Herron should have removed him for cause. Judge Sullivan wrote that even after Herron and the attorneys emphasized the need to evaluate each individual witness’s credibility, J.H. seemingly doubled down. The panel ordered a new trial.

Herron retired from the bench at the end of 2023 but was subsequently hired by the chief justice as a part-time senior judge despite the Court of Appeals having reversed numerous convictions and sentences due to her errors. A different appellate panel overturned another defendant’s sentence last month because of Herron’s actions, with Sullivan also authoring that opinion.

 

 

Source: Colorado Politics