Colorado v. Novotny
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The State appealed the court of appeals' judgments reversing convictions of the defendants in this case and "Colorado v. Vigil." In both cases, the appellate court applied a rule requiring automatic reversal for any erroneous ruling on a challenge for cause that adversely impacted defendant's ability to shale the jury through exercise of peremptory challenges. The Court overruled prior holdings to the contrary and concluded in this consolidated opinion that reversal of a criminal conviction for other that structural error, or an appropriate case-specific, outcome-determinative analysis, will not longer be sustained. Allowing a defendant fewer peremptory challenges that authorized does not in and of itself amount to structural error.
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