The sentencing scheme under the Colorado sentencing guidelines, which dictates the presumptive range established for all classified felony offenses within the state, is generally governed by Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS) § 18-1.3-401, et seq. The specific statutes controlling what sentence a person receives is ultimately very case specific, so discussing your case with an experienced criminal defense attorney is imperative. There are many exceptions (both good and bad) relating to a person’s felony sentence. I will cover the basics here.
Generally, a conviction for a felony offense in Colorado is controlled by the level of the felony offense. The following is the basic sentencing range for each level of felony offense.
Felony Sentencing in Colorado Under the Presumptive Sentence Guidelines
A few notes to keep in mind when reviewing the presumptive sentence guidelines:
- A felony is abbreviated as “F” under the presumptive range guideline.
- The class (or level) of felony is denoted by a number between one and six: Class One (1) is the most serious offense (e.g., first degree murder); Class Six (6) is the least serious offense (e.g., some drug possession under a gram).
- When convicted for a felony offense in Colorado, either imprisonment or a fine (or both) may be imposed. Thus, someone would face imprisonment and/or a fine.
- The actual length of a prison sentence (if any) is influenced by such things as whether a mandatory sentence is required, whether the crime is an “extraordinary risk” crime, whether there are exceptional circumstances, whether there are aggravating and/or mitigating circumstances, whether the offense is a statutorily defined “crime of violence” (or other offense requiring specific sentencing), and whether or not the person convicted has prior criminal convictions on her or his criminal record; also the specific type of the prior criminal conviction can have a severe influence on the sentencing guideline.
- There are also a number of other less-common circumstances and laws affecting a person’s sentence, so once again having an experienced criminal defense attorney analyze your specific case is extremely important.
Moreover, when the only punishment imposed is “imprisonment,” there may be exceptions to a person actually having to go to prison. Some of these exceptions (or alternatives) include the following: supervised probation (including intensive supervised probation (ISP) or sex offender intensive supervised probation (SOISP)), other kinds of supervised release, unsupervised (or court supervised) probation, community corrections (“comcor”), deferred prosecutions or deferred sentences, suspended sentences, jail sentences, etc.
Finally, the ranges below are the presumptive ranges set by CRS § 18-1.3-401(1)(a)(V.5)(A) for felonies committed on or after July 1, 2020. An offense committed before that date is sentenced under the earlier table in section 18-1.3-401(1)(a)(V) that matches its offense date, and a few figures, most notably mandatory parole periods, differ between the tables.
Presumptive Sentencing Ranges by Felony Class
| Felony Class | Presumptive Range | Exceptional Circumstances | Extraordinary Risk Crime | Extraordinary Risk + Exceptional Circumstances | Mandatory Parole | Fine (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 (F1) | Life in prison. Colorado no longer imposes the death penalty: under C.R.S. § 18-1.3-401(1)(a)(V)(F), the maximum sentence for a class 1 felony charged after July 1, 2020 is life imprisonment, and a death sentence remains possible only for an offense charged before that date. | Never a possibility of parole | — | |||
| Class 2 (F2) | 8 yrs – 24 yrs | 4 yrs – 48 yrs | — | — | 5 yrs if the offense is a crime of violence; 3 yrs otherwise | $5,000 – $1,000,000 |
| Class 3 (F3) | 4 yrs – 12 yrs | 2 yrs – 24 yrs | 4 yrs – 16 yrs | 2 yrs – 32 yrs | 3 yrs | $3,000 – $750,000 |
| Class 4 (F4) | 2 yrs – 6 yrs | 1 yr – 12 yrs | 2 yrs – 8 yrs | 1 yr – 16 yrs | 3 yrs | $2,000 – $500,000 |
| Class 5 (F5) | 1 yr – 3 yrs | 6 mo – 6 yrs | 1 yr – 4 yrs | 6 mo – 8 yrs | 2 yrs | $1,000 – $100,000 |
| Class 6 (F6) | 1 yr – 18 mo | 6 mo – 3 yrs | 1 yr – 2 yrs | 6 mo – 4 yrs | 1 yr | $1,000 – $100,000 |
NOTE: In Colorado, a sentence to life in prison means life WITHOUT the possibility of parole (LWOP).
Crimes Presenting an “Extraordinary Risk” of Harm to Society
Crimes presenting an “extraordinary risk” of harm to society include the following:
- Aggravated Robbery, CRS § 18-4-302
- Child Abuse, CRS § 18-6-401
- Unlawful distribution, manufacturing, dispensing, sale, or possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell, distribute, manufacture, or dispense, CRS § 18-18-405 (NOTE: simple possession is excluded)
- Sale or distribution of materials to manufacture controlled substances, CRS § 18-18-412.7
- Crimes of Violence, CRS § 18-1.3-406
- Stalking, CRS § 18-3-602 (formerly § 18-9-111(4))
The Law Firm of Masterson Hall, P.C.
The attorneys at Masterson Hall, P.C. are experienced in defending their clients of virtually every type of crime in Colorado. The attorneys have experience fighting for the rights of their clients. They also have years of experience in jury trials – from low-level offenses all the way up to jury trials for murder in the first degree.
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