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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Posts
    1

    Default Post-Conviction Appeal

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Colorado

    I am going to try to make a long story short so I apologize in advance if I do not make sense.
    My husband has a Class 2 misdemeanor conviction in Co for Violation of restraining order via 3rd party contact. Just about any other state this would be considered contempt of court but since it is Co it is considered domestic violence.
    He did accept a plea deal but this was b/c his attorney told him that since it was Jefferson County, they were the type of people that he would be quilty until proven innocent and it would be really hard to win that case and that we did not have enough money to pay him to defend my husband if we decided to go to trial. Rather than risk jail time my husband accepted the plea. The judge said that she wished he had not taken the plea deal, and that she did not think there was really a case but since he did take the deal there was nothing she could do. The offense happened 12/2000 and he was convicted 3/2006 (he was out of the state for years and did not know about the charge until a background check, we went back to colorado voluntarily to deal with the issue)

    If the trial judge doubted the credibility of the charge, even though a factual basis for the guilty plea existed, his duty was to vacate the guilty plea, enter a plea of not guilty, and set the case for trial. People v. Worsley, 191 Colo. 351, 553 P.2d 73 (1976).

    Here is my question, this being the case shouldn't the judge have rejected the guilty plea? And if so is that grounds for my husband to appeal even though it has been longer than the 18 months?

    Also, the only reason that this is an issue is that my husband would like to be a police officer. The local community college will not let him in with a DV conviction due to the ATF firearm act of 1968, however, my husband was able to obtain a rifle post-conviction, so appearantly the ATF does not have a problem with him owning a firearm even with the conviction.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Post-Conviction Appeal

    Your husband needs to consult a lawyer who has expertise in Colorado post-conviction relief, and have the lawyer review the transcript of the plea hearing. It's necessary to review the transcript to assess whether the plea was properly taken. It's not, in my opinion, a do-it-yourself project, even without considering the passage of more than three years since he entered his plea.

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