Denver DUI Attorney Blog

⚖️ Raider Warrants: Forced Blood Draws After a DUI Refusal in Colorado

Published on: October 5, 2025 | by Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

Denver County Courthouse building in Denver, Colorado — historic courthouse representing the evolution of Colorado DUI law and “Raider warrant” blood draw rulings.

Denver County Courthouse (1437 Bannock St) — once home to Denver’s criminal courts, now a historic reminder of how far Colorado DUI law has evolved.

When you refuse a chemical test in a Colorado DUI case, the law says your license will be revoked. For decades, that was the end of the story — no test meant less evidence for prosecutors and a stronger defense in court.

But that changed with the Colorado Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in People v. Raider, 516 P.3d 911 (Colo. 2022). The Court upheld the legality of “blood warrants” — search warrants authorizing law enforcement to draw a driver’s blood by force after a refusal.

When Can a Court Reject a Plea Agreement in Colorado?

Published on: October 1, 2025 | by Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

Understanding When a Court Can Reject a Plea Agreement in Colorado

Plea agreements are the backbone of Colorado’s criminal justice system. Yet even when prosecutors and defense attorneys reach a deal, the judge is not required to follow it. Many clients ask, “When can a court reject a plea agreement in Colorado?” The short answer: anytime the judge believes the proposed sentence isn’t fair, appropriate, or in the interests of justice.

The Law in Colorado

8 Tips for Hiring the Best Colorado DUI Lawyer in 2025

Published on: January 30, 2023 | by Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

✅ Updated for 2025: This article was originally published in January 2023 and has been refreshed to reflect the most current information on hiring a Colorado DUI lawyer.

By Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

Facing a DUI in Colorado can feel overwhelming. Between the criminal case in court and the DMV deadline that can suspend your license in just 7 days, the stakes are high. Choosing the right lawyer is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Below are 8 updated tips for 2025 to help you hire the best Colorado DUI lawyer — and protect your license, your record, and your future.

Wait Times for Sealing Colorado Criminal Conviction Records in 2023

Published on: January 18, 2023 | by Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

Many criminal records in Colorado, including a wide range of criminal convictions, are now eligible for a record seal. If a person was convicted of a petty offense, civil infraction, or drug petty offense, she may motion the court to seal arrest and criminal records after waiting one (1) year from the completion of all criminal proceedings or her release from supervision, whichever is later.

A second or subsequent conviction for illegal possession or consumption of alcohol or marijuana by an underage person requires a one (1) waiting period from the date of the second or subsequent conviction.

Criminal offenses committed by victims of human trafficking are eligible at any time (no waiting period).

A two (2) year wait is required for Class 2 and Class 3 Misdemeanors, Level 4 Drug Felonies under CRS 18-18-403.5(2.5), and any Drug Misdemeanors.

Intentional misrepresentation of entitlement to an assistance animal or intentional misrepresentation of a service animal requires a three (3) year waiting period to commence upon conviction.

Class 4 Felonies, Class 5 Felonies, Class 6 Felonies, Level 3 Drug Felonies, Level 4 Drug Felonies (except those pursuant to CRS 18-18-403.5(2.5)), and Class 1 Misdemeanors are eligible after three (3) years from the completion of all criminal proceedings or the person’s release from supervision, whichever is later.

All other eligible offenses require a five (5) year waiting period. The waiting period starts at the termination/completion of all criminal proceedings in the case or the person’s release from supervision, whichever is later.

It may be possible to seal Misdemeanor offenses that are ineligible for a record seal if the district attorney’s office consents to the sealing or the person can show by “clear and convincing evidence” that her need for sealing the records is “significant and substantial”, she is no longer a threat to public safety due to the passage of time, and the disclosure of the records is no longer necessary to inform/protect the public.

Records that may be sealed include, but are not limited to police records, arrest records, probation records, court records, sheriff’s department records, other agency records, other custodians of records, and prosecution records.

Aside from convictions for petty offenses and drug petty offenses, the person must show that her interest in sealing the records outweighs the public’s interest in retaining the records (balancing test).

Selling Cars Without a Dealer License in Colorado

Published on: January 6, 2023 | by Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

Selling cars without a retail motor vehicle dealer’s license in Colorado is a criminal offense. Sometimes unlicensed individuals selling cars are known as “curbstoners”. The definition of a motor vehicle dealer in Colorado includes simply offering for sale or lease more than 3 (i.e. 4 or more) new or used motor vehicles at the same address or phone number in any one calendar year. It also includes actually selling or leasing 3 or more new or used motor vehicles in a calendar year. An owner of real property may also be charged with a criminal offense of acting as an unlicensed dealer if she permits more than 3 (i.e. 4 or more) motor vehicles to be offered for sale or lease on her property in a calendar year.

These cases are typically investigated by the Colorado Department of Revenue, Specialized Business Group-Auto, Criminal Investigators and then referred to the respective county’s district attorney’s office.

Pursuant to CRS 44-20-124 it is illegal for someone to act as a motor vehicle dealer, manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, manufacturer representative, business disposer, motor vehicle salesperson, used motor vehicle dealer, buyer agent, wholesale motor vehicle auction dealer, unless the person has the correct license for such activities. There are some exceptions as follows: 1) business owners selling a vehicle owned for more than 1 year, the vehicle was used exclusively in the business, titled in the business name, all vehicle taxes have been paid, and the total of vehicles sold by the business over a 2 year period does not exceed 20 vehicles; 2) manufacturers of utility trailers that weigh less than 2000 pounds and who do not manufacture any other type of motor vehicle; and 3) a person other than a manufacturer operating a motor vehicle dealer pursuant to CRS 44-20-126, who is a licensed dealer selling their own manufactured motor vehicles.

The criminal charges for motor vehicle dealer violations are typically class 2 misdemeanors. However, any person who is acting as a manufacturer, distributor, or manufacturer representative without a license commits a petty offense (effective March 1, 2022). The penalty for someone who is acting as a motor vehicle dealer, wholesaler, buyer agent, wholesale motor vehicle auction dealer, business disposer, motor vehicle salesperson, used motor vehicle dealer, commits a petty offense (effective March 1, 2022).

Denver Felony DUI Lawyer

Published on: November 23, 2022 | by Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

If you have at least 3 prior convictions for alcohol-related traffic offenses (to include DUI, DUI per se, DWAI) or vehicular homicide or vehicular assault, anywhere in the United States or any territory subject to the jurisdiction of the United States you may be charged in Colorado with Felony DUI. Felony Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in Colorado is a Class 4 Felony.

If a person is found guilty or pleads guilty, he may be punished by two (2) to six (6) years imprisonment in the Department of Corrections followed by three (3) years of mandatory parole. If probation is imposed rather than imprisonment in the Department of Corrections, then the minimum county jail sentence is 90 days up to 180 days. No sentencing alternatives (i.e. work release, education release, in-home detention) are available for the minimum mandatory 90 days. Alternatively, if probation is imposed, a judge has discretion to impose a minimum of 120 days up to 2 years of county jail time served on work release or education release if those programs are available in the county where the DUI occurred.

As referenced-above, a felony DUI in Colorado is triggered by a person having 3 prior alcohol-related traffic convictions. These convictions are established by three possible methods: 1) if the DA and the person stipulate to the prior convictions; 2) the prior convictions may also be established when the DA presents to the court a copy of the person’s driving records provided by the department of revenue or by a similar agency in another state which references the previous convictions; 3) the DA presents an authenticated copy of the record of the previous convictions or judgements from a court of record of this state or from a court of any other state, the United States, or any territory of the United States. Of further note the Court shall not proceed to immediate sentencing if the person has not stipulated to prior convictions or if the DA has requested an opportunity to obtain a DMV record or court record.

The bottom line here is that felony DUI matters in Colorado are very serious matters. Hiring an experienced felony DUI attorney is critical in fighting a felony DUI charge and addressing the complexities presented by prior offenses. This is not the type of case that should ever be fought without experienced felony DUI representation.

Phillips County DUI Lawyer

Published on: November 15, 2022 | by Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

Phillips County DUI, DUI per se, DUI drugs, DWAI, and Felony DUI cases are prosecuted by the Sterling Office of the 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. The courthouse is located at 221 S. Interocean Avenue, 2nd Floor, Holyoke, Colorado 80734. The county court criminal docket is typically held on Thursdays.

Due to the lower population of Phillips County, Colorado, DUI and DWAI charges are infrequently charged in the county court system. In the year 2021, there were 20 total DUI cases and only 1 DWAI case charged in the court. The Phillips County Sheriff’s Office, the Holyoke Police Department, the Haxtun Police Department, and the Colorado State Patrol are active law enforcement agencies in the county.

If you’ve been arrested for a DUI offense in Phillips County Colorado it’s important to recognize that you likely have two cases going on at the same time. The first case is a civil case with your driver’s license administered by the Colorado Department of Revenue. The second case is a criminal case in Phillips County Court.

The civil case with your driver’s license is triggered by submitting a breath test at .08 or greater (or .02 or more if under 21 years of age), refusing a breath/blood test, or submitting a blood test yielding a result of .08 or greater (or .02 or more if under 21 years of age). A hearing should be requested with the DMV within 7 days of the date of notice of the Express Consent Affidavit and Notice of Revocation for breath or refusal cases, and by the deadline indicated in the letter received from DMV for blood test cases. If a driver is unable to request a hearing by the deadline in the Express Consent Affidavit or by the deadline indicated in a letter from DMV, a “late hearing request” may be submitted which sets forth the grounds upon which an Express Consent Hearing should be granted. If a late hearing request is granted, it may/may not be possible to obtain a temporary permit to drive on upon until the hearing.

The criminal case in Phillips County Court will typically commence with an initial court date as indicated on a person’s summons (ticket) or bond paperwork. It’s typically best to secure representation as quickly as possible prior to any court appearances in the case. An experienced DUI lawyer will likely move the court date to allow time to investigate the case and prepare an aggressive defense strategy with the client.

New DUI and DWAI Penalties for 1st and 2nd offenses in Colorado

Published on: August 25, 2022 | by Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

Colorado has revised their DUI and DWAI penalty structure again in 2022. The penalty for a first time DUI or DUI per se offense is 5 days to 1 year in jail (the Court may suspend the 5 days if the person pays for and completes an alcohol and drug evaluation and treatment). $600 to $1000 may be imposed as a fine, with the Court retaining discretion to suspend the fine. 48 to 96 hours of community service at a non-profit agency will be imposed. If the person has a BAC of .20 or greater, a minimum 10 days up to one year of jail will be imposed. However, the Court may impose “sentencing alternatives” such as work release, work-seek release, work release for a self-employed business, reasonable and necessary child or family care services, education release, medical treatment, day reporting, behavioral health treatment, reentry program. Probation may be imposed not to exceed two years.

The penalty for a first time DWAI driving while ability impaired conviction is 2 days to 180 days in jail, the minimum 2 days may be suspended upon the person successfully completing an alcohol/drug evaluation and treatment. A BAC of .20 or greater requires 10 days up to 1 year in jail, however the court may apply the same sentencing alternatives listed above for DUI offenses. Probation may be imposed for a maximum of 2 years.

Second offenses, including DUI 2nd, DWAI 2nd, and DUI per se 2nd, with the prior being greater than 5 years ago, require a minimum mandatory 10 days up to 1 year of jail, however the Court retains discretion to impose the sentencing alternatives listed above. No deductions to the jail sentence are allowed for trusty prisoner status, however the person can receive credit for time served prior to the sentence. A fine of $600 to $1500 will be imposed, with the Court retaining discretion to suspend the fine. 48 hours to 120 hours of community service will be imposed, and is mandatory. A minimum period of 2 years of probation will be imposed, in addition to a suspended 1-year jail sentence (on top of any jail imposed as a condition of probation).

If a person is convicted of DUI 2nd, DWAI 2nd, or DUI 2nd and the prior conviction (the 1st offense) occurred less than 5 years before the current offense, then the Court does not have discretion to impose the sentencing alternatives listed above. However, the Court may still authorize work release, education release, and medical release (if these programs are available in the county jail of the sentencing court). The purpose of the release has to be related to the following: continuing employment that the person held at the time of sentencing, continuing education that the person was enrolled in at the time of sentencing, participation in Level II treatment.

What is a “prior offense” for sentencing purposes? A prior offense under Colorado law is when a person has a prior conviction for DUI, DUI per se, DWAI, vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, or aggravated driving with a revoked license, driving under restraint-alcohol. These prior offenses need not to have occurred in Colorado. The priors are counted whether they occurred in Colorado, another state, the US, or an territory subject to the jurisdiction of the US. Thus, Colorado takes a very broad and aggressive approach to what constitutes a prior. Furthermore, Colorado does not have a specific “look back period” for priors. Colorado factors in priors which occurred at any time during the person’s life. In other words, a lifetime “lookback period” is utilized. Even if a prior offense occurred 20 or 30 years ago, or more, Colorado will utilize it for sentencing purposes as a prior conviction.

DUI with a Gun in the Car

Published on: February 24, 2020 | by Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

Being charged with a DUI in Colorado can be one of the most stressful times a person can go through in life. Unfortunately, sometimes the stress of a DUI can be greatly compounded by also being charged with possessing a gun while intoxicated.

If you were stopped for DUI, DUI per se, DWAI, or DUI drugs in Colorado and had a gun in your vehicle, you most likely were also charged with “drunk with a gun” or “possessing a weapon while intoxicated”. The statutory charge is identified as “prohibited use of weapons”, however it’s all the same charge- it’s simply characterized differently in some charging documents. This charge is a Class 2 Misdemeanor offense and is punishable by 3 months up to to 364 days in the county jail and a fine of $250.00 up to $1000.00. Whether or not the gun was loaded makes no difference under the statute- a loaded gun is treated the same was as an unloaded gun. However, the fact that the gun was loaded or unloaded and the proximity of the gun to the driver are certainly factors that may be taken into consideration by a prosecutor in assessing aggravation/mitigation and strength/weaknesses in the case.

If a person is charged with prohibited use of weapons in addition to a DUI charge, the prosecutor must prove certain “elements” of the crime. The first element is that the prosecutor must show that the person “possessed” a firearm. This first element can be aggressively challenged by the defense. Often times possession issues arise from the location where the firearm was found. Examples include: a firearm locked in a toolbox in the bed of a pickup truck, a firearm located in the center console of the vehicle, a firearm located in the backseat of a vehicle, a firearm located in the glovebox, a firearm in the side map pocket of the door, etc. Simply having a gun in the vehicle when stopped for DUI does not automatically establish the element of “possession”. That burden falls on the prosecutor.

“Possession” in People v. Garcia, 595 P.2d 228 (1979) was interpreted to mean the actual or physical control of a firearm. The Court further indicated that “interpreting ‘possession’ to mean anything other that actual physical control would thus constitute an inconsistent construction of the statute”.

Secondly, the prosecutor must establish that the person is under the influence of intoxicating liquor or of a controlled substance. There is no specific blood or breath level indicated in the prohibited use of weapons statute in establishing the requisite element of intoxication.

Possible defenses to this charge may include:

1) The driver of the vehicle was not intoxicated, therefore the prosecutor has not established the intoxication element of the charge;

2) The stop of the driver was illegal;

3) The weapon was found through an illegal search and seizure;

4) The driver did not possess the weapon through actual or physical control.

Colorado DUI Walk and Turn Test

Published on: February 3, 2020 | by Monte J. Robbins, Esq.

The walk and turn test is popular among Colorado DUI police officers as a tool they utilize in an attempt to prove intoxication. The walk and turn test is a divided attention test which divides a person’s attention between balance, memory, and muscle control. There are two stages to the test: “the instructional stage” and the “walking stage”. The test consists of a driver listening to a specific set of complex instructions and then walking down a straight line which could be an imaginary line or a real line. The police officer will then score a driver’s performance on the test based upon 8 “clues” which may be observed. Scoring on this test is similar to how golf is scored (the more strokes you have in golf, the worse your score is). In the walk and turn test, the more clues you have the worse score is as well. The “clues” are as follows: 1) the driver must keep her balance in the starting position during the instruction stage. If the driver cannot maintain balance in the starting position the driver will be scored as having 1 clue. 2) If the driver starts walking too soon before instructed to start the test, the DUI police officer will assign a second clue for starting too soon. Thus simply being anxious and starting the test will earn a driver a negative score.

Once the driver starts walking the line, if she stops while walking she will receive another clue/negative score. The driver must touch each step heel to toe. If each step is not perfectly heel to toe, the driver will receive a fourth negative mark/clue. If the driver steps off of the line (even if an imaginary line) she will be scored with her 5th negative marking for stepping off the line. Don’t use your arms for support like you’re walking a tight rope in the circus during any part of the maneuver. If you do, you just scored your 6th clue/negative mark.

A driver must listen carefully to the instructions regarding the complicated turn at the end of the initial 9 steps. For this turn, the driver must keep her front foot flat on the line and turn taking several small steps with the other foot. This is not a normal way for a human being to turn around. It’s a very complex turn that has to be performed exactly the way the police officer describes it. If the turn is not perfect for the police officer the driver will score her 7th negative mark/clue. Lastly, the driver must not try to earn extra credit by completing more (or less) than 9 steps. If a driver does, she will be scored with the 8th clue/negative mark for taking an incorrect amount of steps.

If a driver doesn’t pay extreme attention to the complex set of instructions from the police officer, she will likely fail miserably. Nervousness, footwear, confusion, the ground surface for the tests, wind and weather, a person’s age and physical abilities, and poor instructions can all be factors that come into play in performance on these tests. Many people seem to especially have difficulty in staying in the instructional position, not starting the test too soon, and turning around correctly after the 9th step.