Appeals Court Revives Claims Against Colorado County for Sheriff’s Civil Rights Abuses
Published on July 10, 2024
A federal appeals court in Denver has overturned a lower court’s dismissal of claims in a civil rights case involving a former Colorado sheriff convicted of misconduct and an intellectually disabled prisoner. A split panel from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous ruling by a lower court that had dismissed claims against Sedgwick County. The claims were in relation to then-Sheriff Tom Hanna, who was found guilty in 2018 of official misconduct and found liable for civil rights abuses against then-inmate Peatinna Biggs while transporting her between county jails on Aug. 10, 2016. Ms. Biggs argued that the sheriff’s actions should impose liability on the county....