In a domestic violence case, limits on your freedom can arrive before the case does. After an arrest, a judge may keep you away from your residence and bar contact with the person who called police, often within a day or two and long before anyone has weighed the evidence. It helps to understand how Colorado approaches these cases before you respond to anything.
Our firm, Shazam Kianpour & Associates, represents people charged with domestic violence offenses in Brighton and throughout Adams County. Below we cover the legal framework, the way protection orders function, and the first moves to make. The attorney’s background is on the attorney profile.
Take the protection order seriously
After a domestic violence charge in Brighton, an order may already restrict contact and gun possession. Obey it exactly until a judge modifies it, and talk to a lawyer before reaching out to anyone connected to the case.
There is no stand-alone domestic violence crime in Colorado. Instead, C.R.S. 18-6-800.3 describes a designation that gets added to an underlying offense. It covers violence or threats against a current or former intimate partner. It also covers an offense against a person, property, or an animal if the purpose was to control, punish, intimidate, or retaliate against a partner. The statute’s idea of an intimate relationship takes in married and formerly married people, couples who live or lived together, and people who have a child in common.
Since the label sits on top of another charge, that underlying charge shapes the case. Typical examples are assault, menacing, harassment, criminal mischief, and violating a protection order. Our Brighton assault page and domestic violence overview go further. A charge is only an accusation, never a finding.
If officers find probable cause that a domestic violence offense occurred, C.R.S. 18-6-803.6 tells them to arrest. When each person blames the other, the statute calls for separate evaluation of each complaint, looking at things like earlier complaints, who was injured more, and any claim of self-defense.
After a person is charged, C.R.S. 18-1-1001 makes a protection order mandatory from the first court appearance until the case concludes. Among other things it forbids harassing, molesting, intimidating, or retaliating against the protected person, and tampering with witnesses. In this kind of case a judge can add a no-contact term and a ban on possessing firearms, and the defendant has to acknowledge the order before being released. Either side may ask the judge to modify it, and breaking it can result in a new charge. More is on our page about mandatory protection orders.
If a conviction carries the domestic violence designation, C.R.S. 18-6-801 can bring a court-ordered evaluation and treatment program, plus gun restrictions until the sentence is satisfied.
We start with what actually happened: who phoned, what the officers recorded, and what evidence exists apart from one person’s account. We look at how the arrest and the order came about and describe your choices in everyday language. Results vary, and no lawyer can promise one.
Brighton is part of Adams County, where the 17th Judicial District Attorney prosecutes misdemeanor and felony cases. The Adams County Justice Center is in Brighton, and certain city ordinance cases are heard by Brighton Municipal Court. Our Brighton criminal defense page has more on where cases are heard.
Shazam Kianpour’s background and education appear in the attorney profile. Your first consultation is free. Reach us at (303) 825-1075 or through the contact form. The information here is general and does not replace legal advice.
Not exactly. It is a designation added to a charge such as assault or harassment when the act involves an intimate partner or was meant to coerce or control. The underlying charge determines the penalties.
No, not by themselves. The District Attorney controls the case and decides how it proceeds, though the other person’s wishes can carry weight.
Not while a no-contact term is in force. Breaking a protection order can be its own offense, so never treat the other person’s permission as protection.
A judge can prohibit possessing firearms while the order stands and can require you to surrender them quickly. A conviction with the designation may keep firearm limits in place afterward.
Written by
Shazam KianpourDenver Criminal Defense Attorney & Founder, Shazam Kianpour & Associates, P.C.
