2014 – Colorado Increases The Minimum Mandatory Sentences For Certain Sex Crimes

by H. Michael Steinberg – Colorado Sex Crimes Criminal Defense Lawyer.

Quietly – the Colorado state legislature – unhappy with the fact that Colorado judge’s may have some discretion setting the bottom – or minimum sentence in Lifetime Indeterminate Sentencing Cases – passed HB – 14-1260.

Entitled: – HB 14-1260: Adjusting Presumptive Ranges for Sexual Intrusion Crimes Against Children 12 and Under When Perpetrator is At Least 10 Years Older – The new law mandates a judge to impose a sentence within the framework of a mandatory indeterminate minimum presumptive range to a maximum of the offender’s life upon an adult offender if he or she commits a class 2, class 3, or class 4 felony sexual assault that includes intrusion or penetration against a child who is under 12 years of age at the time of the offense and the offender is at least 10 years older than the child. For a class 2 felony the presumptive range is 24 to 48 years, for a class 3 felony it is 18 to 32 years, and for a class 4 felony it is 10 to 16 years.

Graphed out, the new sentencing laws look like this:

For the offenses of:

1. Sex assault; or
2. Sex assault on a child; or
3. Sex Assault on a child, position of trust:

AND includes an act of:

1. Sexual intrusion; or
2. Sexual penetration

Where the:

1. Victim is under 12 years old; and
2. The defendant is at least 18 and at least 10 years older than the victim.

The defendant must be sentenced to the DOC for an indeterminate term of:

• F4: 16 to life
• F3: 18 to life
• F2: 48 to life

Colorado – unhappy that its laws may not be the harshest in the country – continues to move to the right of nearly every other state on the issue of punishing Colorado’s convicted sex offenders.