Tampering Offenses in Colorado
First degree criminal tampering is defined in C.R.S. 18-4-505 which defines the offense as follows:
C.R.S. 18-4-505, Colorado’s First Degree Criminal Tampering Statute
Except as provided in sections 18-4-506.3 and 18-4-506.5, a person commits the crime of first degree criminal tampering if, with intent to cause interruption or impairment of a service rendered to the public by a utility or by an institution providing health or safety protection, the person tampers with property of a utility or institution. First degree criminal tampering is a class 2 misdemeanor.
Second degree criminal tampering is defined in C.R.S. 18-4-506 which defines the offense as follows:
C.R.S. 18-4-506, Colorado’s Second Degree Criminal Tampering Statute
In Colorado a person commits second degree criminal tampering defined as:
Except as provided in sections 18-4-506.3 and 18-4-506.5, a person commits the crime of second degree criminal tampering if he tampers with property of another with intent to cause injury, inconvenience, or annoyance to that person or to another or if he knowingly makes an unauthorized connection with property of a utility. Second degree criminal tampering is a class 2 misdemeanor.
Tampering with physical evidence is defined in C.R.S. 18-8-610 which defines the offense as follows:
C.R.S. 18-8-610, Colorado’s Tampering with Physical Evidence Statute
In Colorado:
(1) A person commits tampering with physical evidence if, believing that an official proceeding is pending or about to be instituted and acting without legal right or authority, he:
(a) Destroys, mutilates, conceals, removes, or alters physical evidence with intent to impair its verity or availability in the pending or prospective official proceeding; or
(b) Knowingly makes, presents, or offers any false or altered physical evidence with intent that it be introduced in the pending or prospective official proceeding.
(2) “Physical evidence”, as used in this section, includes any article, object, document, record, or other thing of physical substance; except that “physical evidence” does not include a human body, part of a human body, or human remains subject to a violation of section 18-8-610.5.
(3) Intentionally left blank —Ed.
(a) Tampering with physical evidence of a felony crime is a class 6 felony.
(b) Tampering with physical evidence of a misdemeanor crime is a class 1 misdemeanor.
Possible Penalties for Tampering Offenses in Colorado
Tampering Offenses
C.R.S. 18-4-505
C.R.S. 18-4-506
C.R.S. 18-8-610(3)(b)
C.R.S. 18-8-610(3)(a)
Possible Penalties
Class 2 Misdemeanor
- Up to 120 days in jail; or
- Probation; and/or
- $750 fine;
- Restitution
Class 1 Misdemeanor
- 364 days jail; or
- Probation;
- And up to a $1,000 fine;
- Restitution
Class 6 Felony
- 12-18 months in Colorado State Prison or Community Corrections followed by 1 year of mandatory parole; or
- Probation; and/or
- $1,000 – $100,000 fine;
- Restitution
Tampering Offenses
(Click Links Below To See Penalties)
C.R.S. 18-4-505
C.R.S. 18-4-506
C.R.S. 18-8-610(3)(b)
C.R.S. 18-8-610(3)(a)
Class 2 Misdemeanor
- Up to 120 days in jail; or
- Probation; and/or
- $750 fine;
- Restitution
Class 1 Misdemeanor
- 364 days jail; or
- Probation;
- And up to a $1,000 fine;
- Restitution
Class 6 Felony
- 12-18 months in Colorado State Prison or Community Corrections followed by 1 year of mandatory parole; or
- Probation; and/or
- $1,000 – $100,000 fine;
- Restitution
Defenses to Tampering Offenses in Colorado
General Denial
The accused will be acquitted if the prosecution cannot prove every element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. When the accused raises a general denial defense, the accused denies that the criminal elements of the offense 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.
Mistaken Identity
Mistaken identity is a general denial defense that attacks the element of who committed the alleged offense. As the prosecution is required not only to prove that the offense happened, but that the person charged committed the offense, the mistaken identity defense can be an effective way to challenge the prosecution on the element of who committed the crime. In the context of a tampering offense case, mistaken identity defenses usually arise when the accused is arrested and charged with disobedience to public safety orders in riot conditions after the alleged offense happened or when the accused is identified after a chaotic situation where eyewitness accounts are not trustworthy. Mistaken identity cases often involve witness misidentification issues, poor witness perception issues, inaccurate, improper, or biased police identification procedures, grainy surveillance videos, and mistaken eyewitness accounts.
Alternate Suspect
The alternate suspect defense occasionally arises in a tampering offense case. When the accused raises the alternate suspect defense, he or she does so to cast doubt on the identity element of the offense. In other words, the alternate suspect defense is used to cast doubt on the prosecution’s evidence that the accused committed the crime. By raising the alternate suspect defense, the accused casts doubt on the identity element of offense by raising the possibility that another person committed the offense rather than the accused. In Colorado tampering offense trials the admissibility of alternate suspect evidence will depend on “the strength of the connection between the alternate suspect and the charged crime. If there is a non-speculative connection or nexus between the alternate suspect and the crime charged, the evidence will be admissible.”
If the defense introduces “alternate suspect” evidence, the judge must “look to whether all the similar acts and circumstances, taken together, support a finding that the same person was probably involved in both the other act and the charged crime.” If the judge finds that the accused has presented evidence sufficient to support a finding that an alternate suspect committed the crime, the accused can have the jury consider this evidence in their deliberations. While the alternate suspect defense is seldom used in tampering offense cases, certain circumstances will give rise to the availability of this defense.
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.
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.
Statute of Limitations for Tampering Offenses 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 tampering offenses in Colorado is as follows:
- Felony tampering offenses charges must be filed within 3 years. C.R.S. 16-5-401(1)(a.5)
- Misdemeanor tampering offenses charges must be filed within 18 months. C.R.S. 16-5-401(1)(a.5)
Legal References
- C.R.S. 18-4-505 https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_18-4-505
- C.R.S. 18-4-506 https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_18-4-506
- C.R.S. 18-8-610 https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_18-8-610
Contact the Attorneys at Rights & Liberties Law Firm to Fight for You Today
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