When Defending Yourself Brings Domestic Violence Charges
May 18
2015

Posted by: Jacob E. Martinez

Category: Uncategorized

Colorado law recognizes your right to protect your person, your property, and other people when unlawfully threatened. Unfortunately, while self-defense is a lawful and perfectly understandable instinct, proving that you were acting out of self-defense in court is an incredibly difficult task.

In Colorado, the laws determining whether you acted in self-defense are not hard and fast ones, since many judges have differing views on what it means to protect yourself. If you use physical force to defend yourself, you [...]

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What You Can and Can’t Do Under a Restraining Order
May 11
2015

Posted by: Jacob E. Martinez

Category: Restraining Orders

In Colorado, a protection order can be obtained on the mere word of another person and with no notice to you.

Often referred to as “restraining orders,” protective orders are legally enforceable documents ordering one person to stay a certain distance away from the person who filed for protection and avoid contacting them. To secure a temporary protection order against you, all someone needs to do is go to court and claim you have been abusive towards them. No proof [...]

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Don’t Let a Criminal Record Keep Your Child from Going to College
May 5
2015

Posted by: Jacob E. Martinez

Category: Record Sealing & Expungement

Your child may have the good grades, the extra-curricular activities, and the impressive SAT scores, but if your college-bound teen has a criminal record, their chances of getting into college are severely limited.

The vast majority of universities and colleges—including the almost 500 institutions that use the Common Application—require applicants to provide information on their criminal history. Many institutions require prospective students to check a box admitting to previous run-ins with the law, while others perform background checks on all [...]

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Colorado Marijuana Public Display and Consumption Charges Rise
Apr 27
2015

Posted by: Jacob E. Martinez

Category: Drug Crimes

Criminal justice in Colorado has undergone some drastic changes since the state legalized the recreational use and sale of marijuana in 2012.

According to a report from the Drug Policy Alliance, the number of marijuana charges for possession, distribution, and cultivation fell by 95 percent between 2010 and 2014. Possession charges dropped from 30,428 in 2010 to 1,922 in 2014, while distribution and cultivation charges have become nearly nonexistent.

However, though possession, distribution, and cultivation charges have dropped, there has [...]

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Can You Get Charged with Domestic Violence for Self-Defense?
Apr 20
2015

Posted by: Jacob E. Martinez

Category: Domestic Violence

Imagine you are in a fight with your spouse. Things get out of hand, and he or she threatens you with a knife. After unsuccessfully trying to defend yourself with words, you may feel you have no choice but to use physical force to prevent yourself from being injured or killed. You assume you are justified in your actions because you are acting in self-defense, so it comes as a nasty shock when police officers arrive on the scene and [...]

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