Defacing a Firearm in Colorado
The attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm are experienced in defending people who have been charged with gun crimes in Colorado including the offense of defacing a firearm.
Defacing a firearm is defined in Colorado’s Defacing a Firearm Statute C.R.S. 18-12-104 which defines defacing a firearm as follows:
C.R.S. 18-12-104, Colorado’s Defacing a Firearm Statute
A person commits a class 1 misdemeanor if such person knowingly removes, defaces, covers, alters, or destroys the manufacturer’s serial number or any other distinguishing number or identification mark of a firearm.
Possible Penalties for Defacing a Firearm in Colorado
Defacing a firearm is a misdemeanor offense in Colorado. The possible penalties for a defacing a firearm charge are serious. They include possible fines, restitution, probation, jail, and prison followed by parole. Additionally, a defacing a firearm conviction can result in serious collateral consequences including employment consequences, child custody consequences, housing consequences, immigration consequences, gun rights, and many other civil consequences that can flow from a defacing a firearm conviction.
Rights & Liberties Law Firm has assembled a possible penalties chart to help you better understand the possible penalties a person charged with defacing a firearm in Colorado will face.
Defacing a Firearm
Defacing a firearm 18-12-104
Possible Penalties
Class 1 Misdemeanor
- 364 days jail; or
- Probation;
- And up to a $1,000 fine;
- Restitution
Defenses to Defacing a Firearm in Colorado
General Denial
The accused will be acquitted if the prosecution cannot prove every element of the defacing a firearm offense beyond a reasonable doubt. When the accused raises a general denial defense, the accused denies that the criminal elements of the defacing a firearm exist. General denial is related to the failure of proof defense. The failure of proof defense arises when the accused pokes holes in the prosecution’s case and argues that the prosecution failed to prove each and every element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.
Choice of Evils
Under Colorado’s choice of evils statute, C.R.S. 18-1-702 (1) conduct which would otherwise constitute an offense is justifiable and not criminal when it is necessary as an emergency measure to avoid an imminent public or private injury which is about to occur by reason of a situation occasioned or developed through no conduct of the actor, and which is of sufficient gravity that, according to ordinary standards of intelligence and morality, the desirability and urgency of avoiding the injury clearly outweigh the desirability of avoiding the injury sought to be prevented by the statute defining the offense in issue.
(2) The necessity and justifiability of conduct under subsection (1) of this section shall not rest upon considerations pertaining only to the morality and advisability of the statute, either in its general application or with respect to its application to a particular class of cases arising thereunder. When evidence relating to the defense of justification under this section is offered by the defendant, before it is submitted for the consideration of the jury, the court shall first rule as a matter of law whether the claimed facts and circumstances would, if established, constitute a justification.
Duress
Under Colorado’s duress statute C.R.S. 18-1-708, a person may not be convicted of an offense, other than a class 1 felony, based upon conduct in which he engaged at the direction of another person because of the use or threatened use of unlawful force upon him or upon another person, which force or threatened use thereof a reasonable person in his situation would have been unable to resist. This defense is not available when a person intentionally or recklessly places himself in a situation in which it is foreseeable that he will be subjected to such force or threatened use thereof. The choice of evils defense, provided in section 18-1-702, shall not be available to a defendant in addition to the defense of duress provided under this section unless separate facts exist which warrant its application.
Entrapment
Under Colorado’s entrapment statute, C.R.S. 18-1-709, the commission of acts which would otherwise constitute an offense is not criminal if the defendant engaged in the proscribed conduct because he was induced to do so by a law enforcement official or other person acting under his direction, seeking to obtain evidence for the purpose of prosecution, and the methods used to obtain that evidence were such as to create a substantial risk that the acts would be committed by a person who, but for such inducement, would not have conceived of or engaged in conduct of the sort induced. Merely affording a person an opportunity to commit an offense is not entrapment even though representations or inducements calculated to overcome the offender’s fear of detection are used.
Statute of Limitations for Defacing a Firearm in Colorado
In Colorado the statute of limitations for commencing criminal charges against a person is governed by C.R.S. Section 16-5-401. The statute of limitations for commencing criminal charges for defacing a firearm in Colorado is as follows:
- Defacing a firearm charges must be filed with 18 months. C.R.S. 16-5-401(1)(a.5)
Contact the experienced attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm to Fight for You Today
If you’ve been charged with an defacing a firearm offense contact the attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm to vindicate your rights and protect your liberties. If you’re facing criminal charges or fear you may be charged time is of the essence. Start Your Free Criminal Defense Case Quote. By retaining Rights & Liberties Law Firm you can rest assured that:
- The attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm will use experienced investigators and experts to look into the case to get ahead of the police and prosecutors, whether there has already been an arrest or an investigation is on-going;
- The attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm will advocate for you during your bond hearing to get you released from custody on the lowest possible amount of bail or on a personal recognizance bond;
- The attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm will litigate all constitutional violations and fight to suppress any evidence illegally seized or obtained by police and investigators in violation of your rights;
- The attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm are trial dogs. If you’re prepared to go all the way, so are we. We’ll take your case to the jury and fight with everything we’ve got to secure your acquittal.
- The attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm are skilled negotiators. If you’ve made a mistake we will leave no stone unturned in presenting mitigation to contextualize your circumstances. We will obtain information and prepare a mitigation presentation or report to the prosecutor to present you in your best light and show the state and the judge that despite your mistakes you’re a dignified human being worthy of leniency and redemption. We will protect you from the overly punitive instincts of the criminal legal system and obtain the best plea bargain possible.
- If you’re up against the wall facing serious charges, jail, or prison time the attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm have your back. From drug distribution and barfights to sex assaults and homicides the attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm know that life gets wild and things fall apart. We’ll fight to keep your life together and advocate to ensure that you receive a non-prison sentence, or one which results in the lowest amount of prison time possible.
- If you’re wondering why we do this work, we’re in it because we care. At Rights & Liberties Law Firm we believe that no individual’s crime holds a candle to the injustices meted out by our unusually cruel overly punitive criminal legal system. At Rights & Liberties Law Firm we fight for people whose talents, dreams, and lives have been put on hold by a criminal accusation. Let us fight for you.