Routt County Vehicular Assault and Vehicular Homicide Defense Lawyer
A crash that results in serious injury or death changes everything instantly. What may have started as an ordinary drive on Highway 40 or a mountain road outside Steamboat Springs becomes the basis for felony charges that carry years in state prison. Routt County vehicular assault and homicide defense requires someone who understands how Colorado prosecutors build these cases, what the evidence actually shows, and where that evidence can be challenged. Reid DeChant has handled serious felony cases at trial and knows how the gap between an accident and a crime is often narrower than the charging document suggests.
What Colorado Law Actually Says About Vehicular Assault and Vehicular Homicide
Colorado draws a meaningful legal line between an accident and a crime. Vehicular assault under C.R.S. 18-3-205 applies when a driver causes serious bodily injury to another person while driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or while driving recklessly. Vehicular homicide under C.R.S. 18-3-106 applies when someone dies. Both charges can arise from a single incident depending on how many people were injured.
The DUI-based versions of these charges are the more serious. Vehicular assault while DUI is a class 4 felony. Vehicular homicide while DUI is a class 3 felony, carrying a presumptive range of four to twelve years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. The recklessness-based versions are one class lower, but they are still felonies with prison exposure.
Recklessness, legally, is more than carelessness. Colorado law requires the prosecution to prove the driver consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk. A moment of inattention, a mistake in judgment, or road conditions that contributed to the crash do not automatically meet that standard. That distinction matters in Routt County, where winter driving conditions, mountain terrain, and wildlife crossings are daily realities.
How These Cases Are Built and Where They Break Down
Law enforcement arrives after the crash. The investigation that follows is not neutral. Officers document what they observe, collect statements, pull blood or breath tests, and reconstruct the scene. By the time charges are filed, the narrative is already set. The defense has to deconstruct that narrative piece by piece.
Blood draw procedures are one of the most productive areas. Colorado’s express consent law requires chemical testing to follow specific protocols. Chain of custody, lab handling, timing from driving to draw, and the qualifications of the personnel involved all matter. A blood result that looks straightforward in a report may not hold up when the underlying process is examined closely.
Accident reconstruction is another. Law enforcement agencies use reconstruction experts, but those experts work from assumptions. Tire marks, point of impact, speed calculations, and sightline analysis all involve judgment calls. An independent review of that reconstruction can produce a different conclusion, one that points toward a contributing cause that had nothing to do with the driver’s conduct.
Witness statements collected at the scene often conflict with each other. People who saw different parts of what happened fill in gaps with assumptions. Sorting through what someone actually observed versus what they inferred is part of what pretrial defense work looks like in practice.
In Routt County, cases proceed through the Fourteenth Judicial District. The courthouse is in Steamboat Springs. Prosecutors and judges in smaller jurisdictions handle fewer of these cases than their counterparts in Denver or Arapahoe County, which means the way each case is litigated can be shaped significantly by the specific people involved.
The Consequences Reach Beyond the Sentence
A felony conviction in Colorado carries consequences that follow a person long after any prison term ends. Voting rights, firearm rights, professional licenses, and immigration status are all affected. For someone holding a CDL, a medical license, or a pilot’s certificate, a conviction may end a career entirely regardless of the sentence imposed. Reid has handled DUI and serious felony cases for clients in exactly these situations and understands that the courtroom outcome is not the only thing at stake.
Driver’s license consequences run on a separate track from the criminal case. A conviction for vehicular assault or homicide results in revocation, and the timeline for reinstatement depends on the specific offense and the person’s prior driving record. These proceedings operate independently, which means a defense strategy has to account for both tracks simultaneously.
Restitution is also mandatory in Colorado when a conviction involves injury or death. Courts order defendants to pay for medical expenses, lost wages, and other losses suffered by victims or their families. The amounts can be substantial, and they attach regardless of ability to pay at the time of sentencing.
Questions People Ask About These Charges in Routt County
Can vehicular homicide be charged even if the other driver was also at fault?
Yes. Colorado does not require that the defendant be the sole cause of the collision. But shared fault is directly relevant to whether the prosecution can prove the required mental state and causation. If another driver’s conduct contributed substantially to the crash, that is a meaningful defense argument at trial or in negotiations.
What happens if the blood test was taken at a hospital, not by law enforcement?
Hospital blood draws for medical purposes are governed by different protocols than law enforcement blood draws. When prosecutors seek to use a hospital draw as evidence, there are foundational requirements about how the sample was handled and preserved. These draws are sometimes admitted and sometimes not, depending on how they were obtained and documented.
Is it possible to get a vehicular assault or homicide charge reduced or dismissed before trial?
Yes. Charges are sometimes reduced through negotiation when evidence problems emerge during pretrial litigation. A recklessness-based vehicular homicide charge may be reduced to careless driving causing death if the evidence of the driver’s mental state is weak. A DUI-based charge may be challenged on the blood result. Dismissals happen less frequently in death cases, but pretrial motions that suppress key evidence can significantly change the posture of a case.
How long does a vehicular homicide case take to resolve in Routt County?
These cases typically take a year or more from arrest to resolution, sometimes longer. The investigation, discovery, pretrial motions, and scheduling in a smaller judicial district all add time. Cases that go to trial take longer still. That timeline is not something to rush. Thorough preparation is what creates results.
Does it matter that the crash happened on a private road or private property?
Colorado’s vehicular assault and homicide statutes apply to conduct on public highways. Whether a particular road qualifies as a public highway under Colorado law is a question of fact. Some roads in rural Routt County that appear private may meet the statutory definition, and some may not. This is worth examining carefully in appropriate cases.
What if the person charged had a valid prescription for the medication that caused impairment?
A valid prescription is not a defense to DUI-drugs under Colorado law. The question is whether the driver was impaired, not whether they had legal authorization to possess the substance. However, a prescription can be relevant to challenging the prosecution’s theory of causation and to the broader narrative of the case.
Does Reid DeChant take cases in Routt County, or only in the Denver metro area?
DeChant Law handles serious felony cases outside the Denver metro area, including in Routt County and other mountain communities. Reid has tried cases across multiple Colorado counties and is familiar with the realities of defending felony charges in rural jurisdictions.
Reid DeChant’s Background in Serious Felony Defense
Reid’s experience spans both sides of the courtroom. As a public defender in Denver, Broomfield, and Adams County, he handled cases from traffic offenses through sexual assault and homicide. That background shapes how he approaches a case from the beginning, because he has seen how these investigations develop and where they are often weakest.
His training at Trial Lawyers College focused on one thing above everything else: the story. Every case has one, and the driver of a crash who now faces felony charges has a story that the police report does not capture. Reid’s approach begins with understanding that story fully and building the defense around it, whether that means litigating pretrial motions, negotiating with the DA’s office, or trying the case before a jury.
The results on DeChant Law’s website include multiple DUI acquittals and dismissals, assault acquittals, and charges resolved through motion practice rather than trial. No prior result predicts a future one, but the pattern reflects a willingness to litigate hard when the facts and the evidence support doing so.
Talk to DeChant Law About a Vehicular Assault or Homicide Case in Routt County
These cases move quickly after the crash. Evidence is collected, witnesses are interviewed, and the prosecution’s theory solidifies before a defense attorney is often even involved. The earlier Reid can begin reviewing what actually happened, the more options remain available. If someone in your family has been charged with vehicular assault or vehicular homicide in Steamboat Springs or anywhere in Routt County, contact DeChant Law to discuss the case and what a defense actually looks like from here.