Colorado Domestic Violence Legal Questions

Probation typically does not get 'back dated' so it starts the day you enter your guilty plea - so the two probations likely will run at the same time but the one you entered into later will extend past when the other one ends. That said, if you do well on probation, sometimes the probation department will ask to terminate your probation early or put you on unsupervised probation at some point.  Possibly if you have the same probation officer for both (i.e. one county transfers supervision to the other county), that probation officer will treat them as ending at the same time.... Read More

There is some possibility that the prosecutor could use this 'prior offense' as evidence of a similar plan, scheme, design, identity, modus operandi, motive or guilty knowledge in the enw case, at trial, against this fellow. BUT it takes the judge finding it meets the requiremetns for admission and the fact he was found not guilty may sway the judge to not allow it.... Read More

To try to 'fight for the house' you will need a family law attorney to help you.   That being said, I am curious how you got the word that he was going to try to sell the house, as normally in these settings a 'no contact' order is issued, precluding him from having any contact with you or talking to you, emailing you etc. If he directly made this comment to you or told it to someone with the idea that they would tell you, then he has likely violated that 'no contact' order and can be arrested on that new charge. I would encourage you to contact the police if he did violate that order.  As to the house, if it was purchased while you were married, regardless of how it is titled, you have an ownership interest in that house and a family law attorney can help you preserve that interest, and also help you deal with custody of the child, etc. ... Read More

"Inadvertent" contact is not a violation of the protection order BUT it can be a problem as if it is reported, your number will show up as having called and whether it was 'inadvertent' or not is a real question.  I strongly suggest deleting the protected party's number from you phone as there will be a question as to why you still have it in your phone if you are not suppose to be contacting them. ... Read More

The best thing you can do is turn yourself in on the warrant at a time convenient to you. When the best time to do that is depends on what county it is in. You will have to stay in jail until you see a judge so in many counties the best time to turn yourself in is very early in the morning so you can get on that days docket.  If you do not turn yourself in at a time conveneint to you, you could get arrested at any time, or if you are stopped (speeding as an example) for any reason, you would get arrested. If that was on a Friday you would spend three (or maybe four) nights in jail before you could see a judge.  By turning yourself in you have control over when that occurs.  Once the case is in court after you turn yourself in, negotiations can take place to resolve the case or get it dismissed (if possible).  But that cannot occur until the case is before the Court which will only occur after you post bond on the outstanding warrant after seeing the judge. ... Read More

It would be best to hire your own lawyer in this circumstance so they can get the full story and determine whether you do have a legitimate claim to take the 5th. That said, the prosecutor can choose to give you immunity from prosecution, which would remove your ability to take the 5th and the judge would order you to testify, since with immunity you would not be facing prosecution.  Also, even if that does not happen, if you take the 5th and do not testify, they can likely then use your statements to the police from that night - without further explanation from you. Thus the need to have a lawyer who can advise you on the precise situation here.... Read More

While it depends a bit on what County your case is in and the specific facts of the case, it is extremely unlikely that on a first offense, minor 'domestic violence' case you woudl go to jail.  The focus of domestic violence cases, for the most part, is to get the 'offender' into domestic violence treatment (not to jail them).  I would be VERY surprised if you saw the inside of the jail again. And there are plea bargains that can result in the case being totally dismissed in the end - and then it can be 'sealed' so it does not show up on a regular public background check.  NOTE: The reason you had to spend a night in jail is because the law requires that you see a judge and acknowledge the 'protection order' before you can be released. It is a sad 'quirk' in "domestic violence" cases. ... Read More

I think about all you can do is notify the Domestic relations court that your son is in jail - I do not beleive the criminal court judge will order transport of your son to the domestic relations court.  I would call or email the clerk for the judge that is handling the domestic relations case and let him or her know the situation - what jail your son is in, how long he is in for, etc.  The emails address (sometimes) and phone number for each judges cler can be found on the web page for that court (like Boulder court or Arapahoe county court, etc). There is a link to "Judges and Staff" on each website for each court....... Read More

The 'victim' never presses charges.  The state does.  The 'victim' will be subpoened by the prosecution and if he fails to appear at trial HE will be prosecuted for contempt of court (ignoring the subpoena).  It would be unusual to go to jail on a first offense but it depends a lot on the facts and the county it is in etc.  Since you qualify for the public defender, my advise is to LISTEN to your public defender......... Read More

It is EXTREMELY hard to withdraw a plea you have already entered.  It takes showing that you did not understand what you were doing, not just that you regret the decision now. Plus if the possible result after a jury trial is potentially worse for you, you might wish you had not withdrawn the plea. I would need a LOT more information to give a coherent answer to this question, really. Was it a deferred sentence where the guilty plea is withdrawn if you follow all the conditions of the deferred sentence? Did you actually have a jury trial where you represented yourself or are you saying you entered a plea on your own? What county was this? What was the conviction for? What was the original charge? The facts of the case of course are very important as well.... Read More

It is likely a condition of your bond that you not travel outside Colorado without permission of the court. Some counties have forms to use for that. If you are on 'pre-trial supervision' ask your pretrial supervisor about departing the state/country, and they can begin the process. Normally it takes a document that contains the position of the DA, any pretrial supervisor (if tehre is one) and then it goes to the Judge for their decision.... Read More

"Changing your story" has some risk of you being charged with false reporting - at least some prosecutors may threaten that. The safest thing to do is hire your own lawyer to interseed between you and the DAs office. If that is not possible, you could talk to your partner's lawyer and present the issue to that lawyer and see if he/she will go to the DA to tell them about the correction to the story.... Read More

Yes, if the person who obtained the civil Temporary Protection Order ("Petitioner") does not show up at the Permanent Protection Order Hearing (normally set about two weeks after the TPO is obtained), then YES the Permanent Protection Order cannot enter and the TPO will be dismissed.  However, if you are talking about the CRIMINAL protection order attached to a criminal charge against a person, then there really is not a second hearing, the court is attempting to protect the victim and the Court will decide what to do (although it can modify the order if the "vict5im" requests it).  ... Read More

You do not have the power to drop the charges - only the prosecutor does.  They will ask for your opinion as the case goes along, but you do not get to dictate the outcome.  You can choose to cooperate with the prosecutor or not cooperate - it is your choice. If you do not cooperate they can force you into court by subpoeaning you to hearings or a trial.  If you do not show up after being subpoeaned, then YOU can be arrested. You can talk with your husbands attorney, or hire your own attorney to help with the process. ... Read More

You likely have a warrant out for your arrest for 'failing to appear' at your court date.  You should contact your public defender and find out how to get the case back on track - i.e. to turn yourself in or some courts allow people to be 'added on' to the docket to get rid of warrants, by showing up on certain days.  It does not make sense to try to live with a warrant hanging over you as you could be arrested at any time, disrupting your life completely. Get the case back on track - face the issues and get it over with, is my thought.... Read More

It sounds like you were on a deferred sentence. If so, the prosecutor has 35 days after the end of the deferred sentence to investigate and see if there were any violations of the deferred conditions within the deferred time period.  The paperwork you signed to accept the deferred sentence will explain this. So take the end of the deferred date (January 18) add 35 days and after that if the DA has not filed a motion to withdraw the plea and dismiss the charges, contact the court clerk to see if they have a procedure for the dismissal to occur administratively. (The probation officer just notifies the prosecutor whether he thought there were any violations - it is up to the prosecutor to file the motion to dismiss - so continuing to contact your probation officer will get you no where).... Read More

The answer to this depends on the Court the case is in. Some court's require the filing of an affidavit at the end of the case, some require the person to appear, some just allow a person to appear if they want. I suggest calling the court clerk for the court the case is in and asking them.... Read More

Domestic violence enhanced charges often are "he said, she said" meaning only the two people involved typically were present.  So often the police and prosecutors have to decide which version to believe and proceed with that.  So maybe you should be worried, but without more facts it is hard to say - how long ago was it, what police agency would be involved, etc.... Read More

Criminal cases normally must be prosecuted in the State and County where the incident occured. I understand it occured in California, so I do not see a way to prosecute him criminally in Colorado. Also, criminal charges have to be brought within a certain time period after the criminal event.  I do not know the time limits under California law but in Colorado for most Misdemenaors the criminal charge has to be filed within 18 months of the event and for most felony charges it is within 3 years of the event.  As far as suing him in civil court to try to recover dollar damages, unless he committed some act invovled in this incident in Colorado, or if he lives in Colorado, or if he visited Colorado frequenetly (had some connection with Colorao), it is not likely a civil case could be brought in Colorado.  ... Read More

These are serious offenses- I suggest a consultation - in person - with a lawyer.  But aside from that - do plead not guilty and see what you can get for a plea bargain - but you will definitely have to do domestic violence counseling if you accept a plea bargain to ANYTHING in this case. Consult a lawyer - please......... Read More

I suppose if the police have a basis to beleive there is some emergency/ threat to someone they may be able to search without consent, or if they beleive the person with a warrant is in the home.  It is an interesting issue and worth exploring by talking directly with a lawyer you hire. ... Read More

Difficult situation but if she did go to the grandkids, and you have voice mails or texts where she explains she is doing that because you got a protection order etc. - it seems that any case against you would not go very far - probably.  The threats and stalking are certainly a crime and you can report it to the police. A protection order (really just a piece of paper telling her not to contact you) sounds like it might be useless against this person......although it would make it easier for her to be charged with a crime.   You have a difficult decision to make.... Read More