Serious Felony and Homicide Appeals in Colorado

A homicide appeal is not a longer version of an ordinary appeal. The record is measured in thousands of pages, the trial usually involved forensic and expert testimony, the sentence is often life or a term that functions like one, and the issues that matter are frequently buried in pretrial motions litigated years before the verdict. This page describes how I approach the most serious cases, and what makes them different.

What makes these cases different

Volume. A multi-week homicide trial can produce a record of several thousand pages, plus motions hearings, jury selection, exhibits, and sometimes a separate sentencing proceeding. Reading it all is not optional, and it cannot be delegated to a summary.

Expert and forensic evidence. Firearms and toolmark comparison, DNA mixtures and probabilistic genotyping, cell site location data, digital extractions, forensic pathology, blood spatter, and cause-and-manner testimony each carry their own admissibility rules and their own recurring problems.

Jury selection. Death-qualification issues, challenges for cause, Batson challenges, and juror misconduct claims arise far more often in serious felony trials, and they are frequently unpreserved or under-preserved.

Sentencing complexity. Life without parole, lifetime supervision, crime-of-violence and habitual offender enhancements, consecutive sentencing, and juvenile sentencing questions all raise their own legal issues.

Stakes. In these cases the client is usually serving life in prison and do not get a second chance to appeal that outcome. There is no room for the direct appeal to be done poorly.

Types of cases

I handle appeals and postconviction proceedings in first and second degree murder, felony murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, vehicular homicide, attempted murder, first degree assault, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, sexual assault and other sex offenses, and other class 1 through class 3 felony convictions. I currently represent clients in multiple homicide appeals.

Issues that recur in serious felony appeals

  • Sufficiency of the evidence on a specific element, including intent and after-deliberation findings.
  • Admission of other-act evidence, and whether the required analysis was actually conducted on the record.
  • Expert testimony that exceeded the limits of the discipline, or that was admitted without an adequate reliability finding.
  • Suppression rulings on statements, searches, and identification procedures.
  • Confrontation Clause problems with forensic reports and surrogate witnesses.
  • Jury instruction error on lesser included offenses, self-defense, affirmative defenses, and complicity.
  • Prosecutorial misconduct in closing argument.
  • Cumulative error, where individually survivable errors together deprive the defendant of a fair trial.
  • Sentencing legality, including illegal sentence claims under Crim. P. 35(a).

How I work a large record

I read the record from the beginning, in order, and I read all of it. That includes the pretrial motions, the transcripts of hearings that produced no written order, voir dire, and the sentencing hearing. I build an issue list as I go, with a preservation note and a proposed standard of review for each entry, and then I cut it down after researching each issue and thoroughly.

While I read, I am also identifying claims that cannot be raised on direct appeal at all — investigative failures, plea advice, uncalled witnesses — so that they are preserved for a Rule 35(c) proceeding rather than lost.

Caseload and capacity

I keep a deliberately small caseload. That is not a marketing line; it is the only way one lawyer can read a four-thousand-page record properly and still meet briefing deadlines in other cases. It also means I decline cases, including cases I would like to take, when I do not have the capacity to do them well. If I cannot take yours, I will say so early rather than late.

Who reads the record and writes the brief?

I do, personally, in every case. There is no associate, no contract brief-writer, and no paralegal summary standing in for the transcript.

For more on evaluating any appellate lawyer, see How to Choose a Colorado Criminal Appeals Attorney.

Talk with Tillman

Consultations are free, and you will speak with me rather than with staff. Contact me here or call 720-507-5814.

Written by Tillman Patrick Clark, Tillman Patrick Clark, LLC, Denver, Colorado. Last reviewed: July 31, 2026. This page is general information and is not legal advice. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.