H. Michael Steinberg has 42+ years of experience practicing Colorado criminal law. Mr. Steinberg strives to stay current with the ever changing aspects of criminal law issues and updates resulting in his extensive knowledge of successful criminal defense as well as appellate work. He is also an active member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar Association, the Colorado Trial Lawyer's Association, and the Colorado and Arapahoe Bar Associations.
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Colorado Marijuana vs. Alcohol DUIs
Colorado Marijuana vs. Alcohol DUIs

A Colorado DUI is a DUI whether the allegation involves a beer, a “joint,” a prescription pill or a mix. But the proof looks very different. An alcohol case usually turns on a breath or blood number measured against a bright-line 0.08 limit. A marijuana case has no bright line at all: prosecutors lean on a blood THC level, an officer’s observations and, often, a Drug Recognition Expert’s opinion, and each of those can be questioned in ways an alcohol case cannot.

I am H. Michael Steinberg, a Denver criminal defense attorney with more than 40 years of experience. This guide walks through how Colorado law treats alcohol and marijuana DUIs, how the testing works, what the evidence really shows, and where a defense typically begins. It reflects Colorado law and agency sources as of October 27, 2026.

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Quick Answer

To challenge a search warrant in Colorado after a home raid, your attorney first obtains the warrant, the sworn affidavit, and the return, then files a motion to suppress and for return of property under Crim. P. 41(e). The motion can attack probable cause, particularity, the way the warrant was executed, or false statements in the affidavit. If the court agrees, the evidence and its fruits are excluded unless the prosecution proves the good-faith exception applies. The sooner a defense lawyer reviews the paperwork, the more options you keep.

Officers arrive early in the morning. Someone hands you a stack of papers, and for the next several hours strangers go through your bedroom, your closets, your phone, and your files. Whether the raid involved drugs, a fraud investigation, a sex-crime allegation, or something else, the warrant is the government’s permission slip. If that permission slip was defective, the evidence officers carried out of your home may never reach a jury.

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Quick Answer

No, not automatically. Contacting a witness or victim is not, by itself, witness tampering. Under C.R.S. § 18-8-707, the prosecution must prove that you intentionally attempted to induce the person to testify falsely, withhold testimony, skip a proceeding they were legally summoned to, or avoid a summons, and that you did it without a bribe or threat. The crime is a class 4 felony.

But the contact can still be a serious problem. A mandatory protection order or a bond condition may forbid all contact, so a harmless text can be charged as a separate crime. And what you say matters. Asking a witness to “drop the charges” or “not show up” is exactly the conduct prosecutors charge.

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What Counts as a Colorado DUI Probation Violation?

Probation after a Colorado DUI is a deal. You avoid more jail, and in exchange you follow a long list of rules. When a client calls me and says, “I think I may have violated my probation,” the first thing I do is sort what happened into the right category.

Some problems are fixable with a phone call and a receipt. Others put your probation, and your freedom, at real risk.

This article explains what the law treats as a DUI probation violation, how the court handles it, and what is actually on the table if the court finds one. The core rules live in C.R.S. 42-4-1307 for DUI sentencing and in C.R.S. 16-11-205 and 16-11-206 for revocation.

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By Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer H. Michael Steinberg  |  October 20, 2026

When a felony charge lands, the first instinct for many defendants is to get it over with. In Colorado, one of the earliest decisions in a felony case is whether to demand a preliminary hearing, a short courtroom proceeding where a judge decides whether the prosecution has enough evidence to justify moving the case forward. In our experience, roughly nineteen out of twenty are waived. That is often the right call, but it should be a decision, not a default.

This guide explains what a Colorado preliminary hearing is, the probable cause standard judges apply, when a person charged in Colorado is entitled to a preliminary hearing, the short deadline to ask for one, and the practical ways a “prelim” can help a defendant even when the case is not dismissed. This article reflects Colorado’s statutes, court rules, and decisions current as of October 20, 2026.

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COLORA4-1

Colorado law asks a jury to consider everyone who reasonably appeared to threaten you, not just the person whose punch landed first.

Quick Answer

Colorado does not give a special rule for multiple attackers, but it does something just as important: the jury must weigh the number of people who reasonably appeared to threaten you when deciding whether your fear and your response were reasonable.

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QUICK ANSWER

In People v. Vanpelt, 2026 CO 66 (decided October 12, 2026), the Colorado Supreme Court held that a defendant’s statements and handwritten apology letter from a 75-minute jailhouse interrogation were voluntary under the due process clause, even though the prosecution conceded he never received a proper Miranda advisement. Because the detectives’ conduct did not overbear his will, the statements are not barred for every purpose.

They remain off-limits in the prosecution’s case-in-chief because of the Miranda violation, but the voluntariness ruling keeps open the possibility that prosecutors use them to impeach him if he testifies.

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Drug Distribution & Proximate Cause of Death: Colorado’s Fentanyl Death Enhancement Explained

Colorado prosecutors can charge a person who sold fentanyl with a level 1 drug felony, even for a small amount, if the sale is alleged to be the “proximate cause” of another person’s death.

That single phrase in C.R.S. § 18-18-405(2)(a)(III)(A) can move a case from a presumptive range of 2 to 4 years to a presumptive range of 8 to 32 years. In 2025, the Colorado Supreme Court explained what that phrase means in People v. Beverly, 2025 CO 18.

H. Michael Steinberg, a Denver metro criminal defense lawyer serving Adams, Denver, Douglas, and Arapahoe counties, provides an overview of what the Colorado statute says about certain crimes. He explains what the prosecution must prove in these cases and discusses how the Beverly case impacted the legal discussion about causation. Steinberg also outlines the most common defenses raised in these cases, helping readers understand potential defense strategies.

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Missing a court date in Arapahoe county and other Colorado counties is one of the most common mistakes people make after an arrest, and one of the most avoidable. Sometimes it is a forgotten date, a changed address, a hospital stay, or a ride that never showed up. Sometimes it is fear. Whatever the reason, the court does not start by asking why. It starts by asking where you are.

I have practiced criminal defense in Colorado for more than forty years, including thirteen years as a career prosecutor in Arapahoe and Douglas counties before I opened my own firm in 1999. I have handled hundreds of arraignments and bail arguments from both sides of the courtroom. This guide explains what happens when someone misses court or breaks a bond condition in Colorado, what it can cost, and what to do about it.

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LAW OFFICE OF
H. MICHAEL STEINBERG
Colorado Criminal Defense · Over Forty Years of Experience · 720-220-2277
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