“Why don’t I know who my DA is?” That is a question that a commentator in a recent Denver article spotlighting Colorado district attorneys and upcoming elections to select them says many state residents are now asking themselves. And Gordon McLaughlin stresses the...
Month: October 2020
National spotlight currently focuses on law-and-order issues
There is a figurative pendulum in the American criminal law system, and it swings back and forth in a recurrent and sometimes predictable way. Some readers of our Shazam Kianpour & Associates blog posts might remember well the 1960s, a time marked by elevated...
What does that Colorado roadblock up ahead mean for me?
The following scenario plays out recurrently on varied roadways across Colorado. To wit: Drivers going about their customary business – returning home after work, bringing the kids to a school after-hours event, headed to the store to pick up groceries and so forth –...
Miranda rights: a bedrock yet complex criminal law safeguard
You’ve heard this before, right? In fact, it’s likely that most Coloradans who have spent any time at all over the years watching crime-linked movies and television shows have heard police officers utter the familiar refrain scores of times. It is kick-started with...
Retailer momentum: a move to ratchet up shoplifting penalties
Six months in prison for a homeless man pilfering socks from a department store? A 10-month term behind bars for a woman with cancer who stole $100 worth of food from a grocery outlet? A felony conviction for a defendant who was arrested after shoplifting items valued...
White collar crime: aggressively probed and prosecuted
Many readers of this forum’s criminal law blog posts have likely heard the lament that persons convicted of so-called “white collar” criminal offenses in Colorado and nationally secure comparatively lenient sentencing outcomes. That is, it often seems the case that an...
Some Coloradans have waited decades for this pot-linked update
You are hardly alone if a police stop decades ago netted you a criminal conviction for possession of a small amount of marijuana. In fact, you are a member of a large and varied crowd of state residents. Maybe you had the misfortunate as a college student in the 1970s...
Often contestable: the legality of police searches and seizures
“Where justified.” Some readers of an in-depth online article on police prerogatives and behavior might see those words as virtually leaping off the page. They immediately spotlight legal limitations on law enforcers’ conduct and underscore key checks and balances in...