Denver Vehicular Assault Lawyer
A single collision changes everything. What began as a drive can end with felony charges, a revoked license, and a prison sentence counted in years rather than months. Denver vehicular assault lawyer Reid DeChant works with people facing exactly this situation, bringing the same trial-focused approach he developed as a public defender in Denver, Adams, and Broomfield County to one of Colorado’s more technically complex felony charges.
What Colorado Actually Charges in Vehicular Assault Cases
Colorado distinguishes vehicular assault from general assault based on two things: the use of a motor vehicle and the degree of injury caused to another person. Under C.R.S. 18-3-205, a driver commits vehicular assault when operating a vehicle recklessly and thereby causing serious bodily injury, or when driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and causing serious bodily injury.
The reckless version is a class 5 felony. The DUI-related version is a class 4 felony, which carries significantly heavier sentencing exposure. Serious bodily injury under Colorado law means injury involving a substantial risk of death, permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of a body part or organ. That definition matters enormously in practice because prosecutors often attempt to charge vehicular assault when an injury is serious but may not clearly meet the legal threshold.
Class 4 felony vehicular assault carries a presumptive sentencing range of two to six years in the Department of Corrections, though aggravated ranges can push well beyond that. Class 5 felony exposure runs one to three years presumptive. Either conviction also triggers mandatory parole, a felony record, and the collateral consequences that attach to that record for the rest of a person’s life. When the charge involves an allegation of DUI, you are also facing parallel DMV action against your license, which runs on its own timeline entirely separate from the criminal case.
How These Cases Are Built by Prosecutors
Vehicular assault prosecutions typically rest on three categories of evidence: accident reconstruction, toxicology, and witness accounts. Understanding how each of these is developed, and where each can be contested, is central to any meaningful defense.
Accident reconstruction involves investigators using physical evidence at the scene, including skid marks, vehicle damage, debris fields, and road conditions, to determine speed, point of impact, and driver behavior before the collision. These reports carry considerable weight with juries, but the methodology behind them is not infallible. Reconstruction experts rely on assumptions, and those assumptions can be challenged when the underlying data is incomplete or when scene conditions were not documented thoroughly.
Toxicology evidence in DUI-based vehicular assault cases involves blood draws, which are typically obtained at a hospital after the crash. The timing of the draw relative to driving matters under Colorado law, and chain of custody issues can affect the admissibility or weight of the result. Reid’s background defending DUI cases across Jefferson, Arapahoe, Douglas, and Adams County means he understands how these results are obtained, processed, and challenged. Several of his past results including DMV action dismissals turned on procedural failures in how chemical testing was administered.
Eyewitness testimony is often less reliable than it appears at first. People involved in or near a collision are experiencing a high-stress event, and their accounts of speed, timing, and driver behavior frequently conflict with physical evidence. Those conflicts matter when a jury is asked to determine whether conduct crossed the line into criminal recklessness.
The Recklessness Question Is the Core of Most Defenses
In cases not involving alleged DUI, the prosecution must prove that the driver acted recklessly, which under Colorado law means consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk. That is a higher bar than carelessness or negligence. Accidents happen. Serious accidents happen. The legal question is not whether the driver made a mistake but whether they consciously disregarded a known risk in a way that constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of reasonable care.
That distinction gives defense attorneys meaningful room to work. Conduct that prosecutors characterize as reckless may be better described as an emergency response, a momentary lapse in judgment, or a reaction to conditions outside the driver’s control. Weather, road design, mechanical failure, and the sudden actions of other drivers all feed into a genuine analysis of what occurred. Reid learned through Trial Lawyers College that effective defense begins with understanding and telling the full story of the client’s actual experience, not just countering the prosecution’s narrative with legal arguments.
In Denver specifically, crashes on I-25, I-70, and the interchanges near downtown regularly generate vehicular assault investigations. The volume of traffic, the frequency of construction zones, and the speed differentials on those corridors create conditions where a collision can be catastrophic without a driver having acted in a way that satisfies the legal definition of recklessness.
Questions People Ask When Facing This Charge
Is vehicular assault always a felony in Colorado?
Yes. Both the reckless and DUI versions of vehicular assault under C.R.S. 18-3-205 are felonies. The DUI-based version is a class 4 felony, the more serious of the two. There is no misdemeanor version of this charge.
Can vehicular assault charges be reduced or dismissed before trial?
Yes, and it happens for a range of reasons. If the prosecution cannot prove serious bodily injury as defined by statute, the charge may not be sustainable. If the DUI allegation relies on a blood test that was improperly obtained or administered, suppression may remove the most damaging evidence. Negotiations can also result in a reduced charge, particularly in cases where the recklessness element is genuinely disputed.
What happens to my driver’s license if I am charged with vehicular assault involving DUI?
You will almost certainly face a DMV Express Consent hearing to revoke your license, separate from the criminal case. That hearing operates on its own schedule and has its own procedural requirements. Failing to request a hearing or missing the deadline results in automatic revocation. Reid has a documented record of successfully defending DMV Express Consent actions, including dismissals for improper advisement and failures to administer chemical testing within the required time window.
Will I go to prison if convicted?
It depends on the specific charge, your criminal history, and the details of the case. A class 4 felony conviction carries a presumptive range of two to six years in the Department of Corrections, with an aggravated range above that. A class 5 felony runs one to three years presumptive. Courts have discretion, and outcomes vary. That said, this is a charge where the risk of incarceration is real and must be taken seriously from the outset.
Does the victim’s recovery affect the case outcome?
A victim’s recovery may affect how aggressively a prosecutor pursues the case and can factor into sentencing discussions, but it does not change whether the legal elements of the charge were satisfied at the time of the offense. Prosecutors make charging decisions based on the nature of the injury at the time it occurred, not solely on the eventual outcome.
What if the other driver or another party contributed to the crash?
Comparative fault does not work in criminal cases the way it does in civil cases. However, evidence that another party’s conduct was a contributing or even primary cause of the collision is directly relevant to whether the defendant acted recklessly. If the chain of causation is genuinely shared, that is part of the story the defense needs to tell.
How does prior DUI history affect a vehicular assault charge?
A prior DUI conviction can affect sentencing, how aggressively the case is pursued, and in some circumstances whether additional charges are added. It does not automatically make a vehicular assault conviction certain, but it is a factor the defense needs to account for early in the case strategy.
Facing a Vehicular Assault Charge in Denver
A charge this serious requires a defense attorney who has tried cases through verdict and who understands both the criminal and administrative sides of an impaired driving allegation. Reid DeChant built his practice on the work he did as a public defender, where he handled everything from traffic offenses to homicides, and he carries that experience directly into vehicular assault defense. Denver vehicular assault cases are prosecuted in Denver District Court, and the procedural realities of that court, as well as the surrounding county courts in Jefferson, Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas County where these cases also arise, are familiar ground. DeChant Law represents clients charged with vehicular assault throughout the Denver metro area, and the first conversation about your case is at no charge.