When you are facing criminal charges, you are presented with many options in the Colorado Court system. You can simply take a plea agreement, have a judge rule on your case, or take it to trial in front of a jury. Why would you want to choose a Jury Trial in Larimer, Grand or Boulder County? Well, basically, because it increases your chances of winning your case in court.
Judges Are People Too
People inherently want to be liked. When at work, you strive to get along with your co-workers. It feels nice to be liked. Judges are people too and they want to be liked by their co-workers. Larimer County judges interact with the Fort Collins police, victim’s advocates and District Attorneys on a daily basis, running into them in the courtroom, halls, cafeterias and in the break rooms. They have relationships with the people who are fighting against you. However subtle, these relationships can be a factor in close cases.
Judges Have the Politics in the Back of Their Minds
Another important thing to keep in mind is that in Colorado, judges are retained by vote. The Boulder County District Attorneys, just like all county District Attorneys in Colorado, represent the “People of the State of Colorado.” If the District Attorneys are not happy with the way a judge handles certain cases, they may recommend that judge not be retained. Judges always have this understanding in the back of their minds, knowing that their job may be on the line, depending on how they work with the District Attorneys and whether they keep them happy.
A Jury = No Bias
[pullquote align=”right” textalign=”center” width=”40%”]Juries take the “beyond a reasonable doubt” burden of proof very seriously.[/pullquote]If you choose to have a jury trial in Fort Collins, Estes Park or Loveland, your innocence or guilt will be decided by a group of people who have never met the District Attorney or victim’s advocates. The jury does not have a partiality to the government. Not only that, but the jury is full of real people: people who understand the stresses of life, who shop the places you do, who eat at the same restaurants you frequent. They have a better understanding of where you are coming from.
As an experienced criminal defense attorney, I have found that juries take the “beyond a reasonable doubt” burden of proof very seriously. District Attorneys see the case from one side and assume that a guilty verdict will be the outcome because they tend to assume a judge will do the final ruling. After battling hundreds of court cases, I believe judges are conditioned to find the accused guilty in close criminal cases.