Gary Lozow is one of Denver's most prominent criminal defense attorneys and a terrific guy. Yesterday morning, a driver ran a red light at a busy intersection and crashed into his car, sending it upside down into a creek, where it became submerged in water, with Gary locked inside. Here's the video.

Passersby and two security guards from an adjacent medical center jumped down a 14 foot embankment to reach the car, got it unlocked using a block of concrete they found, and pulled Gary, who was unconscious, out of his vehicle. The water was so cold, one of the rescuers required medical attention. Another seriously injured his leg. The creek was so high, had he not been pulled quickly from the car, he would have drowned. [More...]

K-i-s-s-i-n-g. Football makes no sense to me. The Denver Broncos have signed a $96 million 5 year contract with Peyton Manning. Our local news reports it's the Biggest Contract Ever in NFL history. Manning didn't play last season due to multiple surgeries for neck injuries. Everyone seems to think he'll be able to play but no one seems to know for sure. Here's Manning today on the state of his neck:

“Could I play this Sunday? Yeah, I could,” Manning said. “I don’t know if I’d play as well as I’d like, but I could.”

His neck is apparently enough of a concern that his new contract has a neck injury waiver. But he's guaranteed $18 million for this season, meaning even if he re-injures his neck the first week, or his old neck injuries resurface, causing him to sit out the remainder of the season, he's guaranteed $18 million. Who wouldn't take that deal?

So what do the Broncos say about the possibility Manning's injuries will prevent him from being the Greatest Player Ever? [More...]

Stan Garnett, the District Attorney for Boulder, Colorado, has written a letter to Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh asking that the feds back off from threatening to prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries in Boulder that are in compliance with state law. From his letter, available here:

My view is that the resources of the United States Attorney’s Office should be focused elsewhere: on terrorism, serious economic crime, organized crime and serious drug dealing (involving significant amounts of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine). I can see no legitimate basis in this judicial district to focus the resources of the United States government on the medical marijuana dispensaries that are otherwise compliant with Colorado law or local regulation. The people of Boulder County do not need Washington D.C. or the federal government dictating how far dispensaries should be from schools, or other fine points of local land use law.

As BTD noted, Rush Limbaugh has now apologized to Sandra Fluke.

Contrast the tone and brevity of his apology with his screed yesterday mocking objections to his attack on Ms. Fluke and with his original verbal assault on her. Either he's completely obtuse or he got arm-twisted. Either way, his apology is unlikely to satisfy anyone.

No one would be up in arms if he had just vigorously stated his position on funding or covering the cost of contraceptives without the completely gratuitous character assassination of Ms. Fluke. While it may be his job to be polarizing -- it's why he has a million fans on Facebook and gets the big bucks -- this time he struck a raw nerve across America. He over-played his role as the playground bully and abused his pulpit. No one likes a bully who beats people up for sport. And that's just what he did. In his "apology" he describes his attack as an "attempt to be humorous." Even followers of the Church of Limbaugh aren't laughing with him on this one. [More...]

Denver criminal defense attorney Harvey Steinberg does it again. The Douglas County jury has found former Denver Bronco Perrish Cox not guilty of sexual assault charges. Background here. Congrats, Harvey!

After the verdict, Cox said:

Outside the courtroom, Cox expressed appreciation for his attorney, Harvey Steinberg, and others who supported him during the trial. "I love my lawyer and everybody else who's been," with me."

Update: #PerrishCox and "Harvey" are now trending on Twitter in Denver.

Update: The jury has retired for the evening without a verdict and will resume deliberations tomorrow.

Update: Review of closing arguments here.

A reporter takes this photo around 3:30 pm of a worried Cox in the cafeteria waiting on the verdict.

Closing arguments are underway in the sexual assault trial of former Denver Cornerback Perrish Cox.

Cox did not testify. The defense called one witness and rested. [More...]

Update: Response from Bodog Brand founder Calvin Ayre.

Not sure what to say. BodogBrand.com is a brand-licensing organisation based outside the US. The brand left the market last year and the domain in question has been dormant globally for longer than that. We are only currently doing brand licensing deals outside the US so this domain had no place in any of our current plans.”

A new gambling indictment and website seizure by ICE and Homeland Security has been announced.

The sports gambling site Bodog was shut down and four Canadians indicted, including founder Calvin Ayre, for illegal gambling that generated more than $100 million in winnings, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. The website’s domain name was seized Monday and the indictments which were handed down Feb. 22, were unveiled Tuesday in Baltimore, prosecutors said.

The evacuation of Kerobokan Prison is not going according to plan. Consular officials met with the foreign prisoners, and most, including Schapelle Corby and 8 of the Bali 9, don't want to leave and be relocated. They said adapting to new surroundings would be too difficult. Officials didn't want to remove them against their will.

Bali 9 inmate Scott Rush, serving life, is one who did want to leave and was seen leaving in one of the buses, only later to return. The Jakarta Globe says those leaving are being transferred to Bali’s Karangasem penitentiary. Earlier, authorities said they would be moved to Klungkung. Yet other officials say the prisoners will go to Porong prison, just south of Surabaya.

Evacuations have ceased for the evening, and authorities say they will continue tomorrow. [More..]

Today is Occupy Prisons Day. At 6:30 this evening, the protest in Denver got underway at the ICE facility on 30th and Peoria. It's sponsored by the the Denver Anarchist Black Cross. the news isn't covering it so far, but there's a live-stream here and updates on Twitter is here.

Just yesterday I was writing about the risk of online medical databases (like the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program) being hacked, as happened in Virginia in 2009.

Today, a Denver non-profit medical group announced its database had been hacked and patient data compromised.

The group believes hackers may have accessed patient names, phone numbers, and medical conditions. It’s not believed that hackers were able to access billing information like credit cards.

Computer safety experts are warning other consumers to beware of hackers targeting medical data as it’s proving to be a valuable gateway for other consumer data. “It's incredibly valuable especially when it's medical information because it's tied to virtually everything," said John Sileo of ThinkLikeaspy.com, a identity theft protection agency.

How often do breaches of medical data occur? More than you'd think. [More...]

Starting at 6:00 am this morning, the DEA and other agencies began raiding 25 residences in Denver and nearby cities for marijuana. It's part of Operation Sweet Leaf. So far, more than 1,000 plants have been seized. A dozen people have been arrested, and 7 children have been turned over to Social Services. More arrests are expected.

Authorities say this has nothing to do with medical marijuana.

Investigators say the raids were on a single organization growing marijuana in Colorado and then shipping it to as many as eight other states. The DEA, U.S. Postal Service and IRS are all involved in the investigation as well. The investigation does not involved marijuana grown for alleged medicinal uses.

Update: The cases are being brought in state, not federal court. Charges include racketeering, money laundering and drugs.

Agencies involved:

The joint investigation included the North Metro Drug Task Force, Drug Enforcement Agency, Internal Revenue Service, United States Postal Service, South Metro Drug Task Force, Boulder County Drug Task Force, Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Weld County Sheriff’s Office, Denver Police Department Narcotics Unit and Summit County Sheriff’s Office.

Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh has been busy filling in names to his latest form letter, warning 23 Colorado medical marijuana dispensaries to shut down within 45 days or face forfeiture of their businesses and any financial proceeds generated, as well as enhanced criminal charges.

The reason: The dispensaries are operating within 1,000 feet of a school, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 860(a). The letter is here. The press release is here. Similar letters were also sent to the landlords of the businesses and property owners. Landlords were warned about 21 USC 856(a).

The most significant line in the letter:

"The Department of Justice has the authority to enforce the federal law even when such activities may be permitted under state law."

What about the Odgen Memo? Walsh insists his letters are in compliance with it: [More...]