Don’t miss a word! Follow @DenverWestword on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And remember to check westword.com, where we publish at least a dozen stories a day. Here’s a sample of three recent online-only articles: JUS TI CE DELAYED During a June 24 motions hearing in Ad- ams County Court, Daxx Dalton’s trial on charges stemming from an Aurora protest on July 3, 2020, was rescheduled from August to the week of November 28. Dalton is accused of three misdemeanors: false imprisonment, engaging in a riot, and obstructing government operations at an Aurora police station on the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus. He is the last protester involved with 2020’s justice for Elijah McClain demonstrations with charges still pending in Adams County. The protests came nearly a year after Mc- Clain’s 2019 death following a violent en- counter with Aurora police and paramedics, who injected him with enough ketamine for someone twice his size. After a brief investiga- tion, then-17th Judicial District Attorney Dave Young said the offi cers involved did nothing wrong, but protests after George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police brought new attention to McClain’s treatment. Ulti- mately, Governor Jared Polis asked Attorney General Phil Weiser to investigate; in Septem- ber 2021, the AG issued a 32-count indictment against the offi cers and paramedics involved. Before those indictments came down, the only people who’d been charged with crimes in connection with Elijah McClain’s case were those who’d demonstrated. Adams County Judge Leroy Kirby, the judge in Dalton’s case, dismissed the most severe charges against protest organizers Joel Northam, Lillian House and Eliza Lucero, including false imprisonment, in March 2021. That May, 18th Judicial District DA John Kellner and new 17th District DA Brian Mason dropped all remaining charges in their jurisdictions except those against Dalton and protester Cameron Frazier, who was sentenced to two years of probation for a felony weapons charge. Attorney Jessica Corey fi led three mo- tions on Dalton’s behalf last week, including one arguing that he was pursuing his First Amendment rights during the demonstra- tion. He started exercising them early: In fi fth grade, Dalton was suspended from Aurora Frontier K-8 for wearing a shirt that read, “Obama is a terrorist’s best friend.” While Adams County Judge Leroy Kirby dismissed two of Corey’s motions, he asked for more context on her First Amendment argument; he also gave prosecutors fourteen days to provide the defense with information regarding a body-cam video taken from inside the police station during the demon- The Latest Word Get the latest word on stories posted on westword.com. Sign up for our free daily newsletter, a cheat sheet that summarizes several of our just- published pieces and highlights more that you won’t want to miss. Get the details at westword.com/news. 6 stration. The next hearing in the Dalton case is now set for August 10; read more of Catie Cheshire’s report at westword.com/news. TAKING AIM On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that limits how much the State of New York can restrict the issuance of concealed-carry permits. Since that ruling is now the law of the land, the 6-3 decision writ- ten by Justice Clarence Thomas could have implications for other states and municipali- ties, including the City and County of Denver. “The Denver ban on guns in government buildings is okay. The ban on guns in city parks is defi nitely not,” says David Kopel, research director at the libertarian Independence Institute. “They should repeal the parks ban pretty damn quick, or somebody, not me, may well sue them and make some easy money in attorney’s fees.” Kopel, the author of an article cited in the decision, calls the Supreme Court ruling an “outstanding day for civil rights.” In May, Denver City Council passed a measure that prohibits concealed carry of fi rearms in city-owned or -leased buildings as well as the city’s public parks, including all of the Denver Mountain Parks. Denver City Attorney Kristin Bronson’s offi ce had brought forward the proposal as part of Mayor Mi- chael Hancock’s overall effort to strengthen the city’s gun laws. At the time, Kopel, a longtime Second Amendment advocate, had warned both the Hancock administration and Denver City Council that the Supreme Court case, New York State Rifl e and Pistol Associa- tion v. Bruen, would be concluding soon and that Denver would be smart to wait to pass the ban, particularly regarding the city parks. During deliberations of the ordinance, Councilman Kevin Flynn had suggested taking out the section regarding city parks, questioning whether it was accomplishing anything. Still, Denver offi cials decided to move ahead with passing the law in its entirety. “I can tell you the city attorney is aware of the decision and her offi ce is reviewing it,” Theresa Marchetta, Hancock’s spokesper- son, says of the Supreme Court ruling. The key aspect of that ruling as it affects Denver’s new law concerns so-called “sen- sitive places.” While restrictions on people bringing concealed weapons into such lo- cations — including schools, government buildings, courthouses, polling places and legislative assemblies — are considered con- stitutional, the decision notes that “expand- ing the category of ‘sensitive places’ simply to all places of congregation that are not isolated from law enforcement defi nes the category of ‘sensitive places’ far too broadly.” Since the ruling did not specifi cally men- tion city parks, there’s no specifi c indication of how it could affect Denver’s concealed-carry ban in parks. But Kopel thinks the connec- tion is clear. “To start with, every place that seems to be sensitive is a building, and not just a general building, but a building that has Protests demanding justice for the death of Elijah McClain were common sights in Aurora in 2020. something special about it. Is Washington Park or the Denver parkland near Evergreen, is that analogous to a courthouse, a legislative assembly, a polling place, a school or a govern- ment building?” asks Kopel. “Lawyers can try to make that argument, but I think it’s pretty hard to make an analogy there.” That’s why he thinks Denver City Council should repeal the parks aspect of the new ordinance as soon as possible rather than face a lawsuit. “I think their chances of suc- cess are quite slender,” Kopel says. “It’s just going to rack on the taxing meter on the fees that they’re going to have to pay.” For more, read Conor McCormick-Cavanagh’s story on westword.com. TALKING SHOP Visit Denver just reported that the 16th Street Mall was the city’s top shopping and entertainment area in 2021, and visitors now have some new places to stop on the mall, thanks to PopUp Denver. Tea with Tae, an eco-friendly tea company, and Travel Posters, a company that offers destination- themed posters and other items, will host grand openings on June 30 after soft open- ings last week. Image en Mouvement, an art installation that shows digital displays of dancers, will be opening July 1. Two more pop-ups — Guerilla Gardens, a graffi ti art installation, and Museum for Black Girls, a gallery and exhibit — are also slated to open sometime this summer, but are behind in the design and approval process, according to Sarah Wiebenson, senior manager for eco- nomic development at the Downtown Denver Partnership, which is collaborating with the Denver Department of Economic Develop- ment and Opportunity on PopUp Denver. The pop-up projects were selected in March from a pool of 156 applicants, and each business received $20,000 to cover setup costs at their free spaces in upper downtown, an area that Wiebenson says was hit particularly hard during the pandemic. The tenants are all under a temporary certifi cate of occupancy with a base of three months, though they could stay open longer. “For the property owners, what we’re doing is taking spaces that may have been vacant for years and breathing new life into them,” Wiebenson says, adding that the project is part of a larger plan to revital- ize and reimagine the area of downtown and “bring downtown back better than ever.” Katrina Leibee recently dropped by the pop-ups; read her account at westword. com/news. The Travel Posters pop-up could help put shopping back on the map on the 16th Street Mall. JUNE 30-JULY 6, 2022 WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | westword.com KATRINA LEIBEE MICHAEL EMERY HECKER
