Northglenn Vehicular Assault and Homicide Defense Lawyer

A traffic collision that results in serious injury or death can transform an ordinary driver into someone facing decades in prison. Colorado prosecutors treat vehicular assault and vehicular homicide as among the most serious offenses in the criminal code, and Adams County, which covers Northglenn, pursues these cases aggressively. Reid DeChant is a Northglenn vehicular assault and homicide defense lawyer who has handled serious felony cases through trial, and who understands what it actually takes to mount a defense when the stakes are this high.

What Colorado Law Actually Says About These Charges

Vehicular assault under Colorado law applies when a driver causes serious bodily injury to another person while driving recklessly or while driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Reckless vehicular assault is a class 5 felony. If the prosecution alleges DUI as the aggravating factor, the charge steps up to a class 4 felony, which carries two to six years in the Department of Corrections under Colorado’s presumptive sentencing range.

Vehicular homicide applies when a driver causes another person’s death. Reckless vehicular homicide is a class 4 felony. When prosecutors allege the driver was under the influence, it becomes a class 3 felony, with a presumptive range of four to twelve years in prison. These are not charges that result in probation and a fine. Convictions carry mandatory prison time in many circumstances, and the collateral consequences extend well beyond incarceration.

One thing people often miss: the standard for “reckless” driving under Colorado law is not the same as ordinary carelessness. Recklessness means the driver consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk. A prosecutor has to prove that mental state, not just that an accident happened. That distinction matters enormously when building a defense.

How Adams County Prosecutors Build These Cases

Northglenn sits within Adams County, and vehicular assault and homicide cases in the area are handled at the Adams County Justice Center in Brighton. Adams County District Attorney’s office has historically taken a firm stance on traffic fatality cases, particularly when impairment is alleged. Understanding how these cases are investigated and charged is part of what allows an attorney to identify where they are vulnerable.

Law enforcement typically responds to serious crash scenes with accident reconstruction specialists. These are officers trained to analyze physical evidence: skid marks, point of impact, vehicle damage patterns, and roadway geometry. Their reports carry significant weight with juries, but they are not infallible. Reconstruction involves estimates, assumptions, and measurements that can be challenged when the methodology is flawed or the underlying data is incomplete.

When DUI is alleged, prosecutors will build the impairment case around blood test results, field sobriety test performance, and observations made by responding officers. Each of those components has its own set of evidentiary issues. Blood draws can be contaminated or improperly stored. Field sobriety tests are designed to be performed under controlled conditions that roadside environments rarely replicate. The observations of a first responder arriving at a chaotic crash scene are filtered through assumption and training, not neutral observation.

In Northglenn specifically, crashes frequently occur along major corridors like U.S. 36, Washington Street, and the 104th Avenue interchange. High-speed roadways and complex intersection designs contribute to accidents that are not always the product of driver fault. Where the road itself, weather conditions, vehicle defects, or the actions of another driver contributed to the collision, those factors become central to the defense.

Defense Approaches That Actually Apply to These Cases

No two crash cases are factually identical, which means no two defenses are identical either. That said, there are a handful of areas where vehicular assault and homicide charges most often come apart under scrutiny.

Causation is one. Colorado requires the prosecution to prove that the defendant’s conduct caused the injury or death. If another driver ran a red light, if a mechanical failure contributed to the crash, or if the victim’s own driving was the primary cause, the causal link the prosecution needs becomes harder to establish. Reid evaluates the accident reconstruction evidence and, where appropriate, consults with independent experts who can challenge the state’s version of events.

The recklessness standard is another. Prosecutors sometimes charge recklessness in cases that look more like negligence or inattention. Falling asleep at the wheel, misjudging a distance, or making a split-second error in judgment is not necessarily reckless under Colorado law. If the conduct does not rise to the level of conscious disregard of a known risk, the charge should not hold at the class level the prosecution is pursuing.

In DUI-based charges, the impairment evidence itself is frequently contested. A blood alcohol result above the legal limit does not automatically prove the driver was impaired at the time of the crash. Retrograde extrapolation, the method used to estimate BAC at an earlier time, is subject to real scientific debate. If the blood draw was delayed or the chain of custody was mishandled, the reliability of the result is a legitimate issue for trial.

What You Stand to Lose Beyond Prison Time

A conviction for vehicular homicide or vehicular assault in Colorado carries consequences that go well past a prison sentence. Driver’s license revocation is mandatory for serious traffic offense convictions and can extend for years. For anyone who drives commercially, holds a professional license, works in healthcare, or is not a U.S. citizen, the downstream effects multiply quickly.

Reid has worked with clients across a range of professional backgrounds and understands that the criminal case is only part of what needs to be managed. A felony conviction on your record changes how you are seen by employers, licensing boards, and immigration authorities. For non-citizens, a vehicular homicide conviction is likely to trigger deportation proceedings. That reality shapes how the defense is built and what outcomes are worth pursuing through negotiation versus what needs to go to trial.

Questions People Actually Ask About These Charges

Can a vehicular assault charge be reduced to a misdemeanor?

It depends on the facts and the strength of the prosecution’s evidence. In some cases, particularly where the recklessness element is genuinely disputed, a reduction to careless driving causing injury, which is a misdemeanor traffic offense, may be possible through negotiation. That outcome is not available in every case, but it is worth exploring early in the process.

What if I was not impaired, but the crash still caused a serious injury?

The prosecution can still charge reckless vehicular assault without any allegation of impairment. The question becomes whether your driving actually meets the legal definition of recklessness. Road conditions, the behavior of other drivers, and any mechanical factors all become relevant to that analysis.

Does Colorado require mandatory prison time for vehicular homicide?

For DUI-based vehicular homicide, which is a class 3 felony, Colorado’s extraordinary aggravating circumstances sentencing can apply, and courts have historically imposed prison time in these cases. The specific sentence depends on prior criminal history, the facts of the collision, and how the case is handled at the charging and plea stages. There is no one-size answer, but realistic expectations require understanding the range a judge actually has available.

What happens at the Adams County Justice Center in these cases?

Serious felonies in Northglenn are filed in Adams County District Court. The case moves through advisement, preliminary hearings or grand jury proceedings, pre-trial motions, and eventually trial if no resolution is reached. Pre-trial motions are often where the most important legal work happens, including challenges to search and seizure of blood evidence, challenges to the admissibility of accident reconstruction testimony, and requests to exclude prejudicial evidence.

How long do these cases typically take?

Felony cases in Adams County can run anywhere from several months to well over a year before trial. The complexity of accident reconstruction evidence, the involvement of expert witnesses, and the pace of the court’s docket all affect the timeline. A case that goes to trial on vehicular homicide will take substantially longer than one resolved through negotiation.

Will the victim’s family be involved in the case?

In Colorado, crime victims and surviving family members have constitutional rights under Marsy’s Law, which includes the right to be heard at sentencing and to be notified of proceedings. Their involvement does not control the outcome of the case, but it is a real part of how these prosecutions proceed and how sentencing hearings are structured.

Is it worth fighting these charges even if the evidence looks strong?

Yes. Evidence that looks airtight at the outset often has problems that only become visible once defense counsel digs into the reports, test results, and methodology behind the prosecution’s case. Reid has taken cases to trial and won. Not every case resolves with a not-guilty verdict, but the strength of a defense shapes every outcome, including what plea offers the prosecution is willing to make.

Talk to a Northglenn Vehicular Homicide Defense Attorney

Reid DeChant built his practice on the belief that clients facing the worst moments of their lives deserve counsel who takes their story seriously and fights for what is actually best for them. He has tried serious felonies to verdict and handled complex cases across Adams County and the broader Denver metro area. DeChant Law brings that same tenacity to every Northglenn vehicular assault and homicide case it accepts. Reach out to discuss what happened, what the evidence shows, and what a defense actually looks like in your situation.