Highlands Ranch Vehicular Assault and Vehicular Homicide Defense Lawyer
A crash that results in serious injury or death changes everything instantly, and so does the moment Colorado law enforcement decides to treat it as a criminal matter. Highlands Ranch vehicular assault and vehicular homicide defense cases carry some of the heaviest penalties in Colorado’s criminal code. Unlike a standard traffic offense or even a DUI charge standing alone, these charges can send someone to state prison for years, strip them of their driving privileges indefinitely, and follow them in ways that affect employment, housing, and family stability long after any sentence is complete. Attorney Reid DeChant built his practice on precisely these kinds of high-stakes cases, where the facts are complicated, the prosecution’s theory often oversimplifies what actually happened, and the consequences of inadequate representation are severe and permanent.
What Colorado Law Actually Charges and Why the Distinction Matters
Colorado’s vehicular assault statute, C.R.S. 18-3-205, applies when a driver causes serious bodily injury to another person while operating a vehicle in a manner that is either reckless or while driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Vehicular homicide under C.R.S. 18-3-106 follows the same two-track structure: one based on reckless driving, one based on impairment. The distinction between those two tracks is enormous in terms of penalty exposure. A reckless vehicular assault conviction is a class 5 felony. The DUI-based version is a class 4 felony. For vehicular homicide, the reckless version is a class 4 felony, while the DUI-based version steps up to a class 3 felony, carrying a presumptive sentencing range that can reach twelve years in the Department of Corrections.
The DUI track is especially important to understand because prosecutors will often file the more serious DUI-based charge even when the blood alcohol or drug testing results are marginal, disputed, or complicated by timing. In Colorado, a driver is legally impaired at a BAC of 0.08 or above, but blood samples taken at hospitals following a serious accident may reflect alcohol absorbed after driving stopped, or results that were improperly stored, tested, or analyzed. A defense that successfully challenges the DUI component of these charges can be the difference between a class 3 and a class 4 or class 5 felony, which translates directly to years of potential prison time.
How Douglas County Prosecutes These Cases and What That Means Practically
Highlands Ranch sits within Douglas County, and the 18th Judicial District handles serious felony cases at the Douglas County Justice Center in Castle Rock. Douglas County has a reputation for vigorous prosecution of serious traffic crimes, particularly those involving fatalities or injuries on the corridor between Denver and Colorado Springs along I-25 or on the local arterials that run through Highlands Ranch itself, including C-470, University Boulevard, and Lucent Boulevard. When a fatal or injury-causing crash happens in this area, the Colorado State Patrol often handles the initial reconstruction, and their findings typically form the backbone of the prosecution’s case.
One aspect that distinguishes vehicular assault and homicide cases from other felonies is how long the investigative phase takes before charges are filed. Law enforcement frequently spends weeks or months reconstructing the crash, waiting for toxicology results, interviewing witnesses, and gathering surveillance or black box data from the vehicles involved. This delay can create a false sense of security for someone who has not yet been charged. The investigation is already building during that window, and anything said to insurance companies, first responders, or law enforcement during that period can become part of the prosecution’s file. Having defense representation in place before charges are formally filed is not merely advisable in these cases, it can meaningfully change the trajectory of what follows.
The Evidence That Actually Decides These Cases
Vehicular assault and vehicular homicide prosecutions are heavily technical. They live or die on physical evidence, and that evidence is worth understanding before deciding whether a case is winnable or how a plea negotiation should be approached. Crash reconstruction is central. The prosecution will typically present a reconstruction expert who analyzed skid marks, point of impact, vehicle damage, and final rest positions to establish pre-impact speed and the direction of travel at the time of the collision. Those analyses depend on underlying measurements that can be challenged, and reconstruction opinions are not infallible. An independent reconstruction expert reviewing the same data can often reach different or more nuanced conclusions.
Event data recorders, commonly called black boxes, are now standard in most vehicles and can capture vehicle speed, throttle position, brake application, and steering input in the seconds before a crash. That data can be extraordinarily valuable for the defense when it contradicts the prosecution’s version of how the collision unfolded. It can also complicate a defense case if it was not preserved properly or if the data has been selectively presented. Toxicology is another pillar that deserves close scrutiny. Hospital-drawn blood samples involve a chain of custody that must be documented correctly, storage and testing protocols that must be followed, and analytical results that can reflect substances present in a person’s system for reasons unrelated to impairment at the time of driving. Reid has focused his training on impaired driving charges specifically, and that focus on understanding how blood testing actually works gives him grounding that matters directly in vehicular homicide cases built on a DUI theory.
Questions People Ask Before Calling About These Charges
Can someone face vehicular homicide charges even if they were not drunk driving?
Yes. Colorado’s vehicular homicide statute includes a separate track for reckless driving that does not require any alcohol or drug involvement. Recklessness under Colorado law means consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk, and prosecutors have applied that standard to high-speed driving, street racing, running red lights, and similar conduct. The recklessness version of vehicular homicide is a class 4 felony, which is serious, though it carries a lower sentencing range than the DUI-based version.
What happens to a driver’s license following a vehicular homicide charge?
Colorado law mandates revocation of driving privileges upon conviction for vehicular homicide. If the charge involves DUI, DMV proceedings run parallel to the criminal case and can result in license action even before the criminal case resolves. Express consent rules under Colorado law mean that a blood or breath test refusal after a DUI-related serious accident triggers its own immediate revocation process. These administrative proceedings are separate from the criminal court, require their own timely response, and are something Reid handles alongside the criminal defense.
Is it possible to resolve a vehicular assault charge without going to trial?
Yes, many vehicular assault cases resolve through plea negotiations, often to a reduced charge or to a sentencing agreement that avoids prison time, depending on the facts, the defendant’s history, and the strength of the evidence on both sides. That said, meaningful leverage in plea negotiations usually comes from the work done before any offer is made, specifically from investigating the evidence independently, identifying weaknesses in the prosecution’s case, and being genuinely prepared to take the case to trial if the offer is inadequate. Reid has tried DUI and assault cases to verdict, and that history matters when prosecutors evaluate how seriously to take a defense position.
How significant is the victim’s family’s input in how these cases are handled?
In vehicular homicide cases, the victim’s family has rights under Colorado’s Victim Rights Act, including the right to be informed and to provide input at sentencing. Their perspective can influence both prosecutorial charging decisions and sentencing recommendations. This does not mean the family controls the outcome, but it does mean their involvement is real and should be factored into a realistic picture of how the case will unfold, particularly if resolution through negotiation rather than trial is being considered.
What if the other driver was also at fault for the crash?
Comparative fault does not function in criminal cases the way it does in civil litigation, but evidence that the other driver’s conduct contributed to or caused the collision is absolutely relevant to the defense. If the crash was caused or substantially contributed to by another party’s negligence or recklessness, that undercuts the prosecution’s theory that the defendant’s conduct was the proximate cause of the injury or death. Causation is an element the prosecution must establish, and a defense that presents credible evidence of third-party fault can create reasonable doubt on that element.
How soon should someone contact a defense lawyer after a serious crash?
As early as possible, ideally before making any formal statements. In serious crash investigations, law enforcement may request a voluntary interview framed as routine. Those interviews are not routine. Physical evidence at the scene may not be preserved indefinitely. Surveillance footage from nearby businesses or traffic cameras has a limited retention window. The sooner a defense attorney is involved, the more tools are available to build an independent understanding of what happened.
Defending Against Vehicular Assault and Homicide Charges in Highlands Ranch
Reid DeChant’s background as a public defender in Denver, Broomfield, and Adams County gave him experience across a wide range of serious felonies, and his focused work on DUI defense at the private practice level means he understands both the criminal court side and the parallel DMV proceedings that accompany impaired driving cases. Vehicular assault and homicide cases in Douglas County require both. They require someone who will examine the reconstruction evidence, the toxicology, and the procedural history of the investigation with genuine scrutiny, not just someone who reviews the file and moves toward disposition. When these charges arise out of crashes on the Highlands Ranch road network or along the I-25 and C-470 corridors, the stakes are too high for anything less than that kind of preparation. If you are being investigated or have been charged, contact DeChant Law to discuss what defense in these cases actually looks like.