Domestic Violence Defense Lawyers in Colorado Springs

Colorado has no crime called domestic violence. It is a designation added to another charge, such as assault, harassment, menacing, criminal mischief, or violating a protection order, when the person involved is a current or former intimate partner. It also applies to other crimes used to coerce, control, punish, intimidate, or take revenge on a partner. The designation changes how the case is handled from the moment police arrive.

Mandatory arrest

When an officer has probable cause to believe a domestic violence offense was committed, Colorado law requires an arrest. It doesn’t matter who called the police or whether anyone wants charges filed. The decision to prosecute belongs to the district attorney, not to the other person, and a request to drop the case doesn’t end it.

The protection order and your home

Every criminal case carries a mandatory protection order, and in a domestic violence case the court usually adds terms: no contact with the other person, and often staying away from the home you share. That can keep you out of your own house and away from your children before anything has been proved. You can ask the court to modify the order, and that request is often the first thing we file.

Until the court changes it, the order has to be obeyed exactly. Violating it is a separate crime, a class 1 misdemeanor, even if the other person invited the contact, and any sentence for it runs on top of the sentence for the original charge.

Firearms

If the alleged domestic violence involved the use, attempted use, or threat of physical force, the protection order must require you to give up any firearms and ammunition within 24 hours of being served, not counting weekends and holidays, and not to buy or possess any while the order lasts. The court will schedule a hearing to check compliance.

A conviction has longer consequences. Federal law bars anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from possessing a firearm or ammunition. For service members, law enforcement officers, and anyone whose work involves a firearm, that alone can decide what a plea is worth.

Pleas and sentencing

Colorado limits plea bargaining in these cases. A plea to an offense without the domestic violence designation is allowed only if the prosecutor states on the record that the relationship can’t be proved. A conviction with the designation requires a treatment evaluation and a domestic violence treatment program that meets the state’s standards.

A misdemeanor with the designation becomes a class 5 felony if the person has three or more prior domestic violence convictions. Colorado calls this being a habitual domestic violence offender.

How these cases develop

Many cases start with a 911 call made in anger, and the account changes once everyone has calmed down. The evidence that matters is what was recorded that night: the call, body camera video, photographs, and statements, and whether officers looked at who was acting in self-defense. We get all of it.

How we handle domestic violence cases

We move first on the protection order, because it affects your housing, your children, and your job long before any trial. We review the call, the video, and the statements for inconsistencies and for self-defense. We deal with the firearm order so you comply without losing more than the law requires. And we weigh any offer against its long-term cost, including the federal firearm ban and the treatment requirement. Both partners have worked as prosecutors.