By H. Michael Steinberg Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer Introduction – Blacking Out From Alcohol, Drugs Or Both “Qui peccat ebrius, luat sobrius.” “He who offends while drunk suffers punishment when sober.” Colorado criminal law, Section 18-1-804(1), C.R.S., embodies and codifies this very old rule regarding self induced or so called…
By H. Michael Steinberg – Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer Introduction – Colorado’s Domestic Violence Housing Laws Colorado Law, as well as many other states, provides protection for those individuals who claim to be victims of domestic violence and live in rental units. Under this law, a tenant who has been…
By H. Michael Steinberg Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer Introduction – The Burden of Proof In Colorado Criminal Cases In December of 2022, in a move that shocked many in the Colorado criminal justice system, the Colorado Supreme Court Model Criminal Jury Instructions Committee (the Committee), notwithstanding decades of approval of…
By H. Michael Steinberg – Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer Introduction – Colorado Restitution Law – Extending Probation to Pay Unpaid Restitution There are many Colorado criminal cases in which the restitution order – the amount of restitution ordered by the Judge – far exceeds the ability of a Defendant to…
By H. Michael Steinberg Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer Introduction In many Colorado criminal cases – property belonging to the accused is seized and held as evidence. When the case is over the questions often asked are: can I get my property back and what is the procedure used to…
By H. Michael Steinberg Colorado Theft Crimes Criminal Defense Lawyer An Introduction to Understanding the “Theft by Colorado Contractors Law”- Section 38-22-127 A potential landmine that can lead to felony criminal theft charges for Colorado general and/or subcontractors lies in Colorado’s Construction Trust Fund Statute C.R.S. Section 38-22-127 (the Trust…
H. Michael Steinberg Colorado Juvenile Rights Criminal Defense Lawyer Introduction – Illegal Colorado School Searches An important decision by the Colorado Court of Appeals in 2021, In the Interest of C.C.-S, for the first time applied the protections of the exclusionary rule to violations of a juvenile’s constitutional rights that…
By H. Michael Steinberg Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer Introduction – Understanding the Role of Criminal Court Judges The confusing and sometimes frightening world of the criminal courtroom includes common misperceptions of the role and the power of the trial judge. One way to try to understand the role of a…
By H. Michael Steinberg Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer Introduction to Part 2 In Part 1 of this two-part series, the basics of a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel at the plea bargaining stage of a criminal case were explored. Part 2 delves into the more complex, and often difficult…
By H. Michael Steinberg Colorado Criminal Defense Lawyer Introduction – A System of Negotiations, and Very Few Trials Black’s Law Dictionary defines a “plea bargain” as: [a] negotiated agreement between a prosecutor and a criminal defendant whereby the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser offense or to one of multiple…