Hours after the January 24 murder of Adams County Deputy Heath Gumm, the name and a past booking photo of arrested suspect Dreion Martise Dearing began to surface in local and national media reports. But in the wake of a tweet asking several Denver outlets to remove the mug shot or any reference to Dearing, Adams County Sheriff Mike McIntosh essentially castigated the press for compromising the Gumm investigation, even though all of the information appears to have been obtained from official law enforcement sources.

The Colorado Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s decision to reverse David Bueno’s first-degree murder conviction because evidence that might have helped him was withheld in his death penalty case. To attorney David Lane, who represents Bueno, the ruling casts shame on prosecutors with the 18th Judicial District DA’s office currently occupied by Colorado Attorney General candidate George Brauchler even as it and other controversial cases, including those pertaining to death row residents Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray, undermine the argument for capital punishment in general.

A manhunt continues at this writing in the fatal shooting of Adams County Deputy Heath Gumm while on duty in Thornton last night, January 24. Two suspects are being sought in the second slaying of a metro-area law enforcer in 25 days, and a fundraiser for the Gumm’s family has already been launched.

Aidan Zellmer, fifteen, has been charged as an adult for the June 2017 murder of Kiaya Campbell, a ten-year-old from Thornton. Zellmer, who had not previously been identified by name owing to his age, will be among the youngest individuals in recent Colorado history to be prosecuted for a homicide in the adult system.

Detectives with the Denver Police Department decline to provide anything other than the most basic details about the January 5 double murder at RiNo’s New Welcome Inn bar, which remains under investigation at this writing, and the Reverend Leon Kelly, a prominent anti-gang activist who’s been in contact with the DPD regarding the thus-far-unsolved case, is also cautious with his words. But following the January 19 funeral for victim Guillermo Ornelas, which saw a slew of police officers strategically deployed in the neighborhood around the church where it was held as they kept a watchful eye on mourners, Kelly acknowledges that the incident has “gang overtones.”

A year ago this month, a homicide outside Players Club in Adams County anchored a roundup of eight slayings or attacks at Colorado strip joints. And the violence connected to such venues didn’t end there. In recent months, there have been two more incidents at metro-area strip clubs, with the latest, at Dandy Dan’s on South Federal Boulevard, resulting in a first-degree murder charge against Jared Chavez.

News that a Houston-area grand jury had been looking into a sexual assault accusation against wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders is something of a gift to the Denver Broncos, the franchise for which he’s played since 2014. Speculation has been rife that the team was looking to dump him for economic reasons, even though jettisoning the fan favorite would have almost certainly stirred controversy. Now, however, getting rid of Sanders despite him dodging an indictment in the Houston case can be spun as team executive John Elway and company taking a stand against the sort of bad off-the-field behavior that’s led to the Broncos racking up 49 arrests since 2000, a total that’s tied for the most in the NFL over that span.

Today, January 17, a hearing continues in Adams County court to determine if a fifteen-year-old accused of killing ten-year-old Kiaya Campbell in June 2017 will be tried as an adult. Such efforts have been attempted at least fourteen times in Colorado over recent decades, and the results are decidedly mixed no matter what decision was ultimately made.