Questions
Sixteen questions, answered properly
Grouped by when people tend to ask them. If yours is not here, ask it on the call; there is no charge for the first conversation.
The first 48 hours
If it is happening now, stop reading and call (720) 555-0181.
No, not without a lawyer. There is no version of an unrepresented police interview that improves your position. Say clearly that you are going to remain silent and that you want a lawyer, then stop talking, including about anything that seems harmless.
It is the best possible time to call. Before a filing decision is made, a lawyer can contact the investigating officer or the district attorney's office on your behalf, control what is said, and in some matters stop charges being filed at all.
If you were held, the advisement happens within 48 hours and covers your rights, the charges and bond. If you were summonsed, the first appearance is usually arraignment. In both, having counsel present changes the bond and the conditions that tend to stick for the rest of the case.
A mandatory protection order issues in every criminal case under C.R.S. 18-1-1001. Read it line by line. Contact through a friend, a social media reply or answering a call from the protected party can all be violations, and a violation is a fresh criminal charge under C.R.S. 18-6-803.5.
How cases run
A county court misdemeanor typically runs four to nine months. A district court felony more often runs nine months to two years, longer if it goes to trial. Federal cases follow the Speedy Trial Act clock but excludable time makes a year to eighteen months common.
Probably not. Most criminal cases in Colorado resolve before trial. That is precisely why we prepare every file as though it will be tried: the offers you receive depend on what the other side expects to happen if it is.
You enter a plea that is held without a judgment entering while you complete agreed conditions. Complete them and the case is dismissed. Fail them and the plea becomes a conviction with no trial. It is the single most valuable disposition in most first offense cases.
The decision belongs to the district attorney, not the complaining witness. What that person says can influence it, but it has to be communicated through the prosecution and never in breach of a protection order.
Fees and working with us
Flat fees by stage, agreed in writing before you pay anything. Colorado prohibits contingency fees in criminal matters, so nobody in this practice area can work on a percentage. The agreement sets out what each stage covers and what would be charged separately.
Yes, and it is with an attorney rather than an intake clerk. It normally runs thirty to forty five minutes and ends with a written summary of what we think the case is, what the realistic outcomes are and what it would cost.
We appear regularly across the First, Second, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Judicial Districts, and in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. For matters further out we will tell you honestly whether local counsel would serve you better.
No. Sending a form, calling the line or emailing us does not create an attorney-client relationship, and nothing on this website is legal advice. The relationship begins only when we have checked for conflicts and both signed a written engagement agreement.
Afterwards
Often yes. A dismissal or an acquittal is handled under C.R.S. 24-72-705 with generally no waiting period. A conviction runs on a waiting period tied to the offense level, from one year for a petty offense to five years for the catch-all tier. DUI and DWAI convictions are excluded from sealing entirely.
It can do a great deal, and the analysis depends on the specific offense and your status rather than on how serious it sounds. We work with immigration counsel before any plea in a case involving a non-citizen, because a plea that looks generous can be the one that causes removal.
It depends on the board and the offense. Nursing, teaching, real estate, insurance and commercial driving all have their own reporting duties and their own consequences. Those are mapped in writing before a disposition is agreed, not discovered afterwards.
A felony conviction carries a federal firearms prohibition, and a domestic violence enhancer does the same on a misdemeanor. Restoration is narrow and fact specific. The reliable route is to avoid the conviction that triggers it, which is why the question belongs in the negotiation and not after it.
Still unsure whether you need a lawyer? That is a reasonable question to ask one.
Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.