SUNRISE: Testimony in Farries' trial to focus on two eyewitnesses
A Colorado Springs police officer is expected to testify Monday about two eyewitnesses who allegedly saw a tow truck driver being dragged to death last year.
Testimony will continue at 8:30 a.m. Monday in trial for Detra Farries, who is accused of leaving the scene of a deadly accident, manslaughter and vehicular homicide in the dragging death of tow-truck driver Allen Lew Rose.
Among the people slated to take the stand is a Colorado Springs police officer who interviewed two eyewitnesses.
The testimony is critical after DVDs of the interviews went missing. Defense attorneys previously characterized the DVDs as its the best shot of showing a jury that the two men have since changed details helpful to Farries.
District Judge Jann P. DuBois has ruled that defense attorneys are free to question Colorado Springs police detectives about how the discs went missing.
Farries’ trial began a week ago with jury selection. Opening statements were given Friday afternoon, followed by testimony by several witnesses.
Follow @lancebenzel on Twitter for live updates Monday from the courtroom.
WEATHER
Expect scattered snow showers to pepper the Pikes Peak region by late Monday morning and a high temperature of 32 degrees in Colorado Springs, according to the National Weather Service.
The show showers should continue through the evening, with temperatures dipping to 10 degrees overnight.
Skies should be mostly sunny on Tuesday with highs in the mid-20s.
AROUND COLORADO
GOP race turns to Colorado, Minnesota
LAS VEGAS — Now it's on to Colorado, Minnesota and Maine.
With back-to-back victories fueling him, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is looking toward the next states that hold GOP nominating contests as main rival Newt Gingrich brushes aside any talk of abandoning his White House bid — all but ensuring the battle will stretch into the spring if not beyond.
Shortly after losing big to Romney in Nevada, the former House speaker emphatically renewed his vow to campaign into the party convention in Tampa this summer. His goal, he said, was to "find a series of victories which by the end of the Texas primary will leave us at parity" with Romney by early April.
But first, Gingrich must make it through Colorado and Minnesota, which both hold caucuses Tuesday. Maine follows on Saturday during a month that promises to be as plodding as January was rapid-fire in the presidential race.
Colorado rocky for Republicans in 2012
DENVER — A note to Republican presidential contenders: Colorado's political terrain is as rocky as its mountains.
The state was once solidly Republican but turned Democratic in the 2000s as the population swelled with people moving into the state.
Colorado's traditional conservative base of evangelical Christians and Western individualists became less influential. Latinos account for most of Colorado's growth and make up more than 30 percent of Denver's population.
Democrats rolled up big victories statewide and, in 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democrat in two decades to carry the state's nine electoral votes.
Now, however, the state's unemployment hovers near 8 percent, making Coloradans gloomier about the economy and their elected officials.
Republican front-runner Mitt Romney and his rivals hope that mood could bring Colorado back to the GOP this November.
2 arrested in Fort Campbell soldier's death
HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. — Two people have been arrested in connection to the slaying of a Fort Campbell, Ky., soldier.
WZTV in Nashville reports Colorado authorities have arrested 24-year-old Jarred Long of Grand Junction.
The action comes after the soldier's wife, 25-year-old Jessie Lucille Goslyn, was charged Saturday night with murder in her husband's slaying. She is being held at the Christian County jail in southern Kentucky.
Police say they found 28-year-old Vincent Goslyn fatally shot on Friday night in Hopkinsville.
Jail records don't show whether Jessie Goslyn has an attorney.
Officials warn of avalanches following snow
DENVER — State officials say more than 3 feet of new snow that's fallen in the high country has increased the probability of large avalanches.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center says the storm that moved across the state on Friday and Saturday fell on weak layers of snow. Human-triggered slides would break down into the deep layers, producing large avalanches with significant consequences.
The avalanche danger Sunday remains considerable in the mountains from Steamboat Springs in northern Colorado south to Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs, and includes the Vail, Aspen and Gunnison areas.
Family of teen sues Wheat Ridge psych facility
WHEAT RIDGE — A lawsuit claims an unlicensed psychotherapist at an adolescent treatment center took 16-year-old boy off of medication while another employee likened the boy to serial killer Ted Bundy.
The Sunday Denver Post reports that the lawsuit alleges violation of Colorado's consumer protection act, false imprisonment and negligence.
The lawsuit filed last week claims Adolescent and Family Institute of Colorado workers misused and misdirected Christopher Donabedian's medical and psychiatric records to ensure confinement at the $595 a day in-patient treatment facility.
Kate Fritz, attorney for the facility, says allegations in the lawsuit reflect significant bias and fail to mention the competent care Donabedian received. Fritz says the lawsuit does not reflect the overwhelming sentiments of the parents or those treated at the facility.
HAPPENINGS
-- “Learn Japanese,” 6-7:30 p.m., Ruth Holley Library Branch, 685 N. Murray Blvd., free.
