When Denver Police Use Confidential Informants: How the Defense Challenges Reliability
September 12, 2026
Being charged with a sex crime in Colorado is serious, which means you need an experienced attorney to help guide you through all the turmoil that lies ahead for you in the court system.
Crimes involving sex can have severe repercussions on your life, so you must take them seriously, no matter the charge. A Colorado defense attorney can help represent you no matter the crime – and here are a few ways they can help you.
What Are Sex[...]
Arguing for the legalization of prostitution would not seem to be a viable platform for a politician, and it’s hard to imagine such a thing happening within our lifetimes. However, more and more, it appears to be becoming a question of serious public and social debate.
Most recently, Amnesty International caught a lot of attention in late July when the human rights group released a draft proposal calling for the decriminalization of all “aspects of consensual sex work.” The Internet [...]
It came as a shock to the students and parents of Greeley Central High School when a teacher was arrested for soliciting and patronizing a prostitute. John Derek Haffner, a career and life choices teacher at the school, was one of eight men busted in a prostitution sting last month.
Haffner was hardly the type of individual you’d peg as a criminal. The 52-year-old teacher also worked as the student graduation interventionist, helping at-risk youth succeed in graduating. In addition, [...]
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 [...]