Domestic-partner backers try to knock out rival plan
Backers of a proposal that would allow gay couples to register as domestic partners are asking the Colorado Supreme Court to keep a competing measure off the November ballot.
The second measure, which would bar Colorado from recognizing any status similar to marriage, is aimed at blocking the domestic- partnership proposal sent to voters by state lawmakers. As a constitutional amendment, it would trump the legislative measure.
In a motion filed Monday with the state’s high court, attorney Mark Grueskin argued it’s not clear what relationships would be affected by the marriage-ban proposal, a violation of the constitutional requirement for a “clear” single subject.
He said the measure would also bar cohabiting couples from signing contracts with each other, as well as civil unions between both heterosexual and homosexual couples.
Republican state Rep. Kevin Lundberg, a co-sponsor of the “similar to” ban, said Tuesday it was “absurd” to suggest that it would affect live-in couples and their right to sign contracts with each other.
“That is only one small component of what the overall marriage relationship is. It’s when you bundle everything together and what you see is similar to marriage,” Lundberg said.
DENVER
Taliban aide’s brother arrested in slaying
The brother of a man who pleaded guilty in 2003 to aiding the Taliban was arrested on Monday for investigation of murder.
Mustafa Ujaama, 37, turned himself in to Denver police while officers were investigating a shooting in the 2800 block of Dexter Street in Denver.
Officers were called to the Dexter Street address because shots were fired, but when they got there, no one was home. However, evidence that an altercation had taken place was found.
While Denver police were combing the home for evidence, Aurora police alerted Denver authorities that they had found the body of a man in the trunk of a car near East 28th Avenue and Wheeling Street in Aurora.
The name and age of the man in the trunk was not released by Denver police. An autopsy is being conducted.
Ujaama’s brother, James Ujaama, pleaded guilty in 2003 to charges he brought money, computer equipment and a recruit to Taliban officials in Afghanistan.
Denver police spokesman John White said a motive for Monday’s homicide is not known.
DENVER
Police officer arrested after call to Motel 6
A Denver police officer was arrested and suspended without pay on Tuesday on allegations of misconduct while on a call at a Motel 6 in Denver.
Officer Adam Nuanez was arrested on suspicion of first-degree criminal trespass, a felony, as well as misdemeanor allegations of official oppression, official misconduct and harassment.
Allegations were brought to the internal affairs bureau on March 5.
According to television news reports, Nuanez was accused of inappropriate behavior by a woman he contacted at the motel. The woman is identified by Nuanez in court records as a prostitute and informant.
ADAMS COUNTY
Victim of lightning storm Sunday ID’d
A man who died after being struck by lighting was identified Tuesday as 39-year-old Javier Cortez-Perez.
The Adams County coroner said Cortez-Perez was a resident in the Denver metro area, but did not name a specific city.
Cortez-Perez was electrocuted by lightning, an autopsy showed. The incident occurred Sunday afternoon as he walked through the parking lot of the Mile Hi Flea Market in Henderson.
Authorities initially erred when they said he was 42.
Fingerprints were used to confirm his identity.
GLENWOOD SPRINGS
3 held in stabbing, kidnapping case
Glenwood Springs police arrested three people in connection with a stabbing that left one man hospitalized, and the subsequent kidnapping of a woman, said Sgt. Louis Dixon of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.
Adams County deputies received a call at 9 a.m. Tuesday about the kidnapping and stabbing near West 76th Avenue and Pecos Street, Dixon said. Police said they found the stabbing victim in his apartment nearby with wounds to his left arm and torso. Dixon said the victim was taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital; his wounds are not believed to be life-threatening.
Police do not know the ages of the victims because the two speak only Spanish.
Acting on a bulletin describing the suspect’s red Dodge Stratus, Glenwood Springs police stopped a matching car at noon and arrested a man, who may be the kidnapped woman’s estranged husband. Two other men in the car were also arrested, Dixon said.
CENTENNIAL
Jury selection begins in Saudi man’s trial
Jury selection began Tuesday in the case of a Saudi man accused of repeatedly raping an Indonesian woman whom he and his wife allegedly kept as a virtual slave for four years in their suburban Aurora home.
Opening arguments were expected today, prosecutors said.
Homaidan Al-Turki, 37, a Saudi citizen, is charged with two counts of kidnapping, 12 counts of sexual assault, extortion, theft and false imprisonment and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
His wife, Sarah Khonaizan, 35, pleaded guilty to state and federal charges of theft and harboring an illegal immigrant and faces up to a year in prison when she is sentenced in July and August.
LA SALLE
Ex-stock show chief to run for governor
A Colorado cattle rancher says he plans to run for governor as a Republican write-in candidate this fall.
Chuck Sylvester, 68, said he has filed the necessary paperwork with the secretary of state’s office. “It galls me that politics are in the hands of a few people, and I just felt it was time to step up,” he said.
“I’m running to give the citizens of this state a choice. Across America, voters are frustrated with career politicians who merely pay lip service to our shared ideals.”
Sylvester, a former general manager of the National Western Stock Show, said he has a “Contract With Colorado” that addresses education, health care, immigration, agriculture, growth, water and the current budget crisis.
Rep. Bob Beauprez and Marc Holtzman are seeking the GOP nomination to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Bill Owens.
Former Denver prosecutor Bill Ritter is the lone Democrat in the race.
