PHOENIX — The trial has been postponed again for a man who is facing criminal charges for shooting and killing his wife in 2022.
Christopher Hoopes was charged with second-degree murder after Tempe police say he shot and killed his 25-year-old wife, Colleen, in the chest in the middle of the night. She was a dancer for Ballet Arizona, a professional dance company in Phoenix.
He told police he awoke and thought there was an intruder in the home. Hoopes has pleaded not guilty.
Video in the player above highlights ABC15's previous coverage of this case.
He was scheduled to stand trial on November 20, but a Maricopa County Superior Court judge granted a delay until Feb. 22, 2024, on Monday after attorneys for the prosecution and defense said they needed more time to examine evidence. Which includes data from the couple's cell phones.
Hoopes is currently free on bond while he awaits trial, but he wears an ankle monitor and is confined to this home.
His attorney recently filed requests to modify his release conditions. Hoopes is allowed to attend Knight of Columbus meetings at a Scottsdale parish. He is now seeking permission to attend other church activities at a Gilbert parish and to work outside the home. He previously worked as an accountant.
“Now he feels he needs to get a job and support himself,” said his attorney, David Dow, in court on Monday.
The court previously had approved him to attend weekend Catholic masses, which the family had not opposed. But prosecutor Frankie Grimsman told the court the family didn’t support the latest request to attend church activities because it was non-specific.
“He basically could be gone anytime,” she said.
Colleen’s sister, Michaela Buckley, told the judge by phone that the family was opposed to him leaving the house for work.
“I just think that would offer my family and the state of Arizona some comfort, knowing that if he must work, he can do it from home,” she said.
Dow said his client is not a flight risk and has complied with all release conditions. He added that his wife’s family lives out of state.
“There’s no threat to the victims,” he said.
The court is expected to issue a ruling on release conditions before the end of the week.
Earlier this year, the ABC15 Investigators reported on newly released records that shed details about what happened that night.
Court records said Hoopes called 911 shortly before 3:30 a.m. on May 20, 2022. He told police he woke up, startled, and thought an intruder had entered their Tempe home. He told police he grabbed a 9mm handgun and fired two to three times before he realized he shot his wife.
Police found two fired cartridge casings.
Court records state evidence indicates he fired the gun “from the foot of the bed toward the opposite side of the bed, which was where the victim had been at the time of the shooting.”
Colleen Hoopes had been a dancer with Ballet Arizona since 2017.
She danced in signature pieces, including George Balanchine’s Serenade, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Ballet Arizona’s annual classic, The Nutcracker.
Nayon Iovino, a friend and Ballet Arizona co-worker, told ABC15 in an interview earlier this year that she brought positive energy to the room.
After a vigorous workout, when most dancers would be on the floor, breathing hard and sweating, "she would be up...ready to go again.”
Retired Valley attorney Mike Black, who is not involved in the case, told ABC15 in an interview earlier this year that prosecutors have their work cut out for them.
“He gave a limited amount of information to the police,” said Black. “It’s his right to do that so this is going to be a tough, tough case to prove.”
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.
