What is a Complete Defense for a Felony?

Are you currently facing felony charges under Colorado law? If so, you need to get to work on your defense as quickly as possible given the severity of the sentence you could be facing in the event of a conviction. If you are convicted of a felony offense, you should expect that your sentence will include prison time. Even for the least serious of all felony levels — a Class 6 felony without extraordinary risk of harm and that is not a crime of violence — there is a minimum sentence of at least 1 year in prison. For more serious felonies, you can face a minimum sentence of multiple years in prison, including up to life imprisonment.

One potential type of defense strategy is a broad category known as a “complete defense.” What is a complete defense, and when is it applicable to felony charges in Colorado? Consider the following information from our Denver felony defense attorneys.

Defining a Complete Defense

A “complete defense” is a type of affirmative defense in which the defendant is released from all liability or culpability. To explain further, an affirmative defense is one in which the defendant raises evidence that shows they are not criminally liable even if they committed the offense. In other words, an affirmative defense is a way of saying that you may have committed the acts involved in the offense, but there is a reason for your criminal liability to be negated.

A complete defense, now, is an affirmative defense in which the defendant is released from all culpability — it is a complete and full defense to the charges the defendant is facing. When an affirmative defense is not a complete defense, it is often known as a “partial defense” where some culpability is negated but not all.

What Makes for a Complete Defense?

The most common complete defenses in felony criminal cases are entrapment and self-defense. When a defendant is successful in proving entrapment or self-defense, all criminal liability is negated.

How is this different from a partial defense that is also an affirmative defense? As the Cornell Legal Information Institute explains, the affirmative defense of provocation is a common example of a partial defense. The defendant may have been provoked, but the defendant also may have taken more physical action than was necessary.

Whether or not a complete defense is relevant to your case will depend entirely on the specific charges you are facing and the facts surrounding your arrest.

Contact a Denver Felony Defense Attorney for Assistance Developing a Strong Defense to the Charges You Are Facing

If you are currently facing felony charges of any type in the Denver area — whether for a drug offense, weapons offense, assault case, or felony DUI, for example — you will want to rely on the strongest possible defense strategy in order to avoid a conviction. As we discussed above, a complete defense is, in effect, the best type of affirmative defense — it is one that removes all culpability for the criminal offense of which you have been accused. While other types of affirmative defenses (partial defenses) may be relevant to your case, they cannot absolve you of all liability for the offense, so it is essential to work with one of the experienced Denver felony defense lawyers at DeChant Law to determine what defenses to raise in your case. Contact our firm today for assistance defending against felony charges in Colorado.

Sources:

cdhs.colorado.gov/sites/cdhs/files/2021-05/felony_sentencing_guidelines.pdf

justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-645-entrapment-elements