Boulder Legal Issues Blog

Receiving a minor in possession ticket can be scary, especially if this is your first time getting into trouble with the law. You most likely know a friend — or even several friends — who have been in a seemingly similar boat. However, do not assume their situation is the same as yours. While...

There is a lot riding on getting good grades in college. Add to this the sheer workload of having multiple classes — with mandatory papers, projects and tests — and it’s no wonder so many college students are completely stressed out. Walk around a campus and you can feel the stress, as students rush...

Reducing the number of drunk drivers on the road has been a multi-faceted approach. There are campaigns aimed to educate drivers and groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving who work to educate, while also pushing for stricter drunk driver-related policies. Add to this the steep penalties a driver faces for drunk driving and guess...

While cities like Denver and Boulder have adopted action plans with the goal of reducing the number of traffic fatalities to zero, the number of people actually killed in car accidents in Colorado saw an increase in 2017. Naturally, this is leading some to question just how well these plans are working. More than...

The Alcotest 9510, a breath testing machine used by numerous police agencies, has been challenged in court in several states. Now, a report from two software engineering consultants who reviewed its source code has been distributed. That report is no longer available for intellectual property reasons, but the consultants expressed serious concerns about the...

Despite recent moves to make it easier for federal prosecutors to crack down on marijuana crimes, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced that they probably won’t be doing so. That’s because federal law enforcement simply doesn’t have the resources to spend time on “routine cases.” Instead, it will continue to prioritize drug conspiracies and...

Thanks to new partnerships with social workers and mental health professionals, a number of Colorado law enforcement agencies have been changing their strategy to focus more on treatment. In some cases, mental health professionals are riding along with officers. In others, case managers stationed in higher crime areas help officers divert low-level offenders away...

The international nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch released a blockbuster report this week. It alleges that, in many cases federal law enforcement is tipping off state and local forces about information it may have learned by using constitutionally questionable practices. Such tips might not be admissible as evidence if brought before a court. Therefore,...

Car accidents happen for any number of reasons. When they are particularly spectacular, it can be easy to assume that intoxication was the cause, perhaps because many shocking DUI accidents have been reported on the news. The mere fact of an accident, however, does not imply the driver was drunk. It’s important to remember...

The U.S. Supreme Court has just heard arguments in a case where a criminal defense attorney overruled his client’s decision to insist on his innocence at trial. In a Louisiana death penalty case, the attorney gauged that there was overwhelming evidence of the defendant’s guilt. He thought the only way to convince the jury...