With the presidential election quickly approaching, you may be wondering about your right to vote. While voting is a constitutional right guaranteed to all U.S. citizens, law makers in Colorado have made it illegal for certain people to vote. That’s right, it can be a class 5 felony to vote in certain situations. If you have a criminal record and Continue Reading
Category: Courts and Procedures
Hung Jury / Mistrial in Fort Collins | What Does It Mean?
When a felony or misdemeanor case goes to trial in Larimer, Boulder, or Grand County, a guilty or not guilty verdict are not the only possible conclusions. Sometimes, the trial ends in a mistrial by hung jury. Read more about a jury trial from the American Bar Association. What is a Hung Jury / Mistrial in Larimer County? A hung Continue Reading
Will I Face Jail Time for My Criminal Conviction in Fort Collins?
Judges face a myriad of choices when it comes time to sentence someone convicted of or who plead guilty to a criminal offense. Penalties range from a simple fine to incarceration in a Colorado Department of Corrections prison. Anyone with a misdemeanor conviction faces probation or a potential sentence of serving time in the Larimer, Boulder or Grand County Jail. Continue Reading
Will I Face Prison Time with My Felony Criminal Conviction Sentence in Fort Collins?
When a person is convicted of or pleads guilty to a crime, a judge must decide an appropriate punishment. Judges can sentence a person to probation, community corrections, jail or prison time depending on the circumstances. Sometimes with certain crimes and situations, the law requires a period of incarceration. Let’s take a closer look at the prison incarceration sentencing ranges. Continue Reading
Judicial Abuse of Power and Detention Centers | Where Is the Line in Fort Collins?
Court judges have a lot of power over people’s lives and that is not a responsibility to be taken lightly. Most judges take it very seriously, but some seem to take their power too far. One judge seemingly overstepped her bounds when she sent three children to a detention facility after they refused to go to lunch with their dad. Continue Reading
Background Checks in Fort Collins: What Can People Find Out About You?
It used to be when you applied for a job, your prospective employer would verify your employment history and check your references to make a decision about whether or not to hire you. Now, the common practice is to run full background checks on a person to get as much information as possible. But what is actually included in a Continue Reading
Sometimes, It’s Best to Take the Deal | Plea Bargains in Fort Collins
When a former prep school headmaster was facing 25 counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Child – or Child Pornography – charges, he was offered a plea deal of 4 years in prison. After rejecting the deal, he pushed forward with his trial choosing waive his right to a jury trial and having his case heard before the judge. The Continue Reading
Judge Rejects Plea Deal – Takes Matters Into Her Own Hands | Plea Bargains and Sentencing in Fort Collins
When a 78-year-old woman went to her sentencing hearing, she probably expected the judge to honor the agreement her attorney and the district attorney had reached. However, this was not the way her sentencing went. The woman was charged with one count of Careless Driving Resulting in Death and two counts of Careless Driving Resulting in Injury for a fatal Continue Reading
All Spring Breaks Must Come to an End | Restorative Justice in Boulder County
Most school aged children look forward to Spring Break and always end up feeling the week off of school went by too fast. Some Boulder high school students must have felt that way when they decided to extend their spring break by throwing Molotov cocktails in their high school. Luckily, the school was empty when a security guard smelled smoke Continue Reading
Big Brother Strikes Again in Fort Collins | DNA Samples from Misdemeanor Offenders
In 2010, Colorado passed a law requiring any adult arrested for felony charges to submit a saliva sample. This DNA sample is stored in a national database and is run for possible matches with unsolved crimes and held for future changes. Now, lawmakers want to be even more intrusive and require this of anyone convicted of certain misdemeanor crimes as Continue Reading