Denver Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

A woman who spent 18 years in prison because of false testimony will soon be free on parole. Her freedom comes after years of effort and the admission by one of those who accused her of molestation that she had lied under pressure from her father. However, the woman will still have to register as a sex offender, which will put limits on her freedom.

The woman was 19 when she was one of four who were convicted of sexual assaulting two girls in 1994. The girls were nieces of one of the accused women. The case was complicated by the fact that all four defendants were lesbians, with some of them having been in relationships at the time or prior to then. They pleaded not guilty but were convicted of sexual assault.

It is not uncommon for people in Denver to find themselves with extra pain medication after they have recovered from an operation or injury. Rather than flush the pills down the toilet, it may be tempting to recoup some of the cost of the medication by selling the pills they do not need anymore. An online marketplace like Craigslist would seem to offer a convenient way to sell them.

At this point, many readers are probably asking, "But, isn't that illegal?" Though prescription painkillers are legal to prescribe to patients who need them, resale in this manner is illegal. However, many people who try to sell their prescription drugs are not professional drug dealers. More likely, they are simply misguided about what they are allowed to do with their pills.

Most doctors in Colorado understand that an accusation by a patient that he or she was sexually assaulted during an examination could cause grave damage to the doctor's career. Even in cases where the accusation is not true, it could be a long time before the truth comes out.

A doctor in another state is facing charges that he inappropriately touched a 16-year-old patient during an exam. The physician, who specializes in pediatrics and sport medicine, was arrested on sexual assault charges on Oct. 10, about six weeks after the teen male's parents complained to the hospital where the doctor worked. The hospital suspended the doctor on Aug. 31 and fired him on Sep. 12 after an investigation. It was the first complaint the hospital had received about the accused doctor.

A man from another state is facing felony charges related to an accident he was involved in on a Boulder highway on Oct. 5 that severely injured another man. Prosecutors said the charges against the suspect would be increased to DUI manslaughter if the other man, who was in a coma as of Oct. 6, did not survive.

The suspect, 56, is from Texas but was visiting Boulder, where he was staying at a hotel in Westminster. Police say he went to a restaurant on Pearls Street where he reportedly had "a few" drinks. He left the restaurant around 7 p.m. and went to a number of nearby bars, officers claim.

With prosecutors having the resources of the county and state on their side, it is vital for those accused of a crime to have a defense attorney to mount a vigorous defense. Having an attorney is so important that the right to an attorney following an arrest is enshrined in the Constitution. But just having an attorney is not enough. Though most defense attorneys work very hard, occasionally there are cases where an attorney failed to do everything he or she was tasked to do when he or she agreed to represent a defendant. Since it can result in an unjust conviction, inadequate representation can be grounds for an appeal.

In a local example, a former Denver college professor who was convicted of sexual assault on a minor in 2007 received inadequate representation from his defense attorney but will not receive a new trial, according to a ruling issued by a Boulder District judge on Oct. 3. Among the things the judge found the defendant's former attorney did was fail to properly explain the terms of a plea offer made by prosecutors, costing his client the chance to accept it.

Colorado is one of 32 U.S. states that include capital punishment as a potential penalty for certain crimes, though it has rarely been imposed in recent years and the state has carried out only one execution since 1976. However, there are currently three people on Colorado's death row who could eventually be executed.

Nationwide, there are around 3,170 people facing the death penalty. They were all found to be guilty of terrible crimes, but as analysis of DNA evidence has improved in recent years, an increasing number of death row inmates are being proven to have been falsely accused. In fact, a 38-year-old man on death row in another state recently became the 300^th person exonerated by DNA testing in the United States. Of those, 18 had been given the death penalty.

Readers in Colorado are no doubt aware of the proposed amendment that will be on the ballot in November's election to decide whether to further legalize marijuana in the state. As we have previously discussed, Amendment 64, if it passes, would allow those over 21 years old to buy and sell up to one ounce of marijuana. With marijuana already legal in Colorado for medicinal purposes, allowing small amounts for recreational use may seem like the next logical step for many residents. In fact, some polls indicate that most voters favor the amendment.

But some owners of the marijuana dispensaries that have opened across the state since medical marijuana became legal in 2009 are not so sure they want Amendment 64 to pass. That is because marijuana is still a controlled substance under federal law. While the Justice Department has so far taken limited action against medical marijuana in Colorado, some dispensary owners fear that a broader legalization will draw the attention of federal agents and prosecutors seeking to exert their authority.

The jury in the trial of a 27-year-old former Marine accused of sexually assaulting a woman at Denver International Airport began weighing the evidence on Sep. 20 after the trial concluded. The case appears to revolve at least in part over whether the woman who accused the man of kissing, striking and other sexual activity was forced against her will or consented to a "rough" sexual encounter.

Many of the details of what happened are in dispute, but prosecutors and the defendant's attorney at the sexual assault trial agree that the woman and the defendant met at a bar at DIA after each of their flights were cancelled in April 2011. They spent about half an hour talking and possibly passing sexually explicit notes to each other until the bar closed. Surveillance footage from the airport appears to show the two walking in the concourse to an empty gate, out of camera range.