What Happens at a Denver Preliminary Hearing After Felony Arrest
June 19, 2026
The State of Colorado is committed to making our roads safer by deterring drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel. Besides the Department of Transportation’s “The Heat is year to further enforce their stance on drinking and driving and get intoxicated drivers off the road.
At least, that’s the goal. Sometimes, unfortunately, mistakes are made and the wrong people get charged. Or rules are bent and broken and rights are violated.
Because of this, it is important to know what [...]
Colorado has made impaired driving a top priority in order to reduce the number of alcohol and drug related injuries and deaths on our roads. For that reason, it’s imperative to understand the different impaired driving offenses you could potentially be arrested for, as well as the specific penalties associated with each one.
DUI – Driving Under the InfluenceWhether you feel impaired or not, you are legally not allowed to drive if your blood alcohol content (BAC) is 0.08 [...]
The legalization of marijuana has brought a number of marijuana-related concerns to the forefront of public consciousness, and the United States has its eyes on Colorado with our little legal “experiment.”
Besides drug trafficking, one of the major concerns about legalizing marijuana is whether the number of drugged driving incidents will increase.
Well, the statistics for 2015 have come in and the number of marijuana DUIs has decreased…slightly. In 2014, there were 354 marijuana only citations issued, and only 347 [...]
During the holidays, there are more people on the road traveling to visit family and friends or attending holiday parties and gatherings. It is, after all, the most wonderful time of the year. But with all the celebrating, it’s also the time of year when far too many people get in their car and drive under the influence of alcohol.
Typically, the holiday season is seen as starting with Thanksgiving – the most traveled weekend of the year – and [...]
DUID is short for “driving under the influence of drugs.” Regardless of legalization laws, it is still a crime to operate a car under the influence of marijuana or any other drug that effects your ability to drive. This can also include prescription drugs.
Colorado Drugged Driving LawsThe Colorado Vehicle Traffic Code contains the laws that deal with drugged driving. Section 42-4-1301(1) states that:
A preliminary hearing in a felony case in Colorado is one of the earliest opportunities for the prosecution’s evidence to be tested before a judge. It happens after charges have been filed and the defendant has made an initial appearance, but before the case moves into trial court. The hearing is not about deciding guilt or innocence. Instead, the court is checking whether the prosecution has sufficient evidence to move the case forward.
In Colorado, this stage is often [...]
Only one drug felony level in Colorado carries a true mandatory prison sentence. The other three carry presumptive ranges where a judge still has discretion, meaning the defense strategy in a DF2, DF3, or DF4 case looks completely different from that in a DF1 case. At the Law Office of Jacob Martinez, our Denver drug crimes attorney has spent more than a decade in Denver courts, working to achieve better outcomes for clients facing felony drug charges.
Only One Drug[...]Yes. Dash cam footage from police vehicles and your own camera can be used to challenge DUI charges in Colorado. The question is not whether it is relevant but whether you know how to obtain it, how Colorado courts evaluate it, and what a defense attorney actually does with it. The Law Office of Jacob E. Martinez has defended DUI cases throughout Denver and surrounding Colorado courts for more than 15 years.
What Colorado Police Dash Cams Actually Record at[...]