When Denver Police Use Confidential Informants: How the Defense Challenges Reliability
September 12, 2026
If you are facing criminal charges, don’t think your sentencing is inevitable. There are a number of different things that a skilled Denver criminal lawyer can do to help you get your charges reduced, dismissed, or dropped.
You may be able to make a plea agreement with the prosecution, admitting your guilt in exchange for lesser charges. Alternatively, some Colorado defense attorneys have a successful track record at getting charges dropped before the case even goes to trial by using [...]
A good witness can make or break a criminal case. Witnesses can bring charges against someone, and can even be the key to a conviction. Death sentences have been overturned because a witness recanted their testimony.
Therein lies the problem. A fair criminal justice system is not just the responsibility of prosecutors, lawyers, and judges. All citizens have to contribute to ensure fair trials and a fair system. – including witnesses.
That’s why the Colorado Springs Police Department has issued [...]
Navigating the Colorado court system is not an easy task. Forget figuring out your defense strategy. Just finding which court you will have to report to can be confusing. Denver specifically has multiple court systems that handle legal matters, including municipal courts, district courts, and more.
For this blog post, we will focus on municipal and district courts. Both of these courts deal with legal matters that take place within Colorado borders, and generally follow the same procedure, but there [...]
It’s stressful enough to be charged with a crime. The last thing you may want to do is shop around for a criminal defense attorney and talk legal fees. Choosing the right attorney, however, may mean the difference between years in jail and dropped charges.
Keep the following questions in mind while searching for and consulting with different criminal defense attorneys about your situation.
How Long Have You Been Practicing Law?
An attorney’s years of experience and the number of [...]
Being charged with a crime can be incredibly stressful. You don’t want to plead guilty, but how can you prove your innocence or lessen your sentence?
Luckily, there are many ways to defend against criminal charges. Some are well known, like self-defense, but did you know that hypoglycemia can be used as a defense in some cases? Do you know about the “make my day” law, and how can it help you in court?
Below we have a few examples [...]
A confidential informant almost never speaks to the judge who signs the warrant. Instead, the judge reads a detective’s sworn summary of what an unnamed person allegedly said. That gap can become one of the most important issues in a Denver drug, weapons, theft, or other criminal case.
The defense does not cross-examine the informant when the warrant is issued. At that stage, the focus is on the affidavit itself: what the informant allegedly knew, how police verified the information, [...]
Colorado fentanyl possession charges can become serious felonies at relatively low weight thresholds. The law focuses on the weight of the material, compound, mixture, or preparation containing fentanyl rather than only the amount of pure fentanyl inside it. That means a small-looking quantity of powder or counterfeit pills can result in a much more serious charge once the substance is tested and weighed.
Weight is only part of the case. What the accused person knew, whether the state can prove [...]
Colorado COCCA charges are racketeering charges used when prosecutors claim a person participated in an enterprise through a pattern of criminal activity. These cases often grow out of drug, theft, burglary, fraud, identity theft, or financial investigations that are later reframed as organized conduct.
A COCCA count is not automatic just because several people were charged together or because prosecutors believe more than one crime occurred. The state must prove specific structural elements, including an enterprise and a pattern of [...]