Criminal Defense Representation in Greenwood Village
Criminal defense representation isn’t just limited to animal cruelty. Criminal defense involving animals can include things like defending municipal tickets for failure to clean up animal waste, barking dog noise complaints, or helping someone navigate both the criminal and civil aspects of a dog bite situation. Often the best course of action is determined by the jurisdiction that you’re in and the number and type of prior run-ins with animal control. Here at COLawTeam, we can help with all manner of animal cases, including even these minor tickets!
On the other end of the spectrum, animal cruelty is one of the hardest crimes to prosecute. Animal cruelty may be either a felony or a misdemeanor, and animal fighting is likewise just as complicated. District attorneys and other prosecutors regularly get it wrong as few, if any, have ever handled an animal case before. Here at COLawTeam, we will take the occasional animal cruelty defense case, but only after careful conflict checks. Many times, we will have consulted on the law enforcement side of a case and may not be able to help. However, in some situations, we may be the best attorney for you! Incidents of negligence, hoarding, and inadvertent mistakes affecting the wellbeing of an animal are often over-charged, and a good defense attorney can really help. In other cases, there may be a PACFA complaint going through the Attorney General’s office at the same time that we need to navigate. Not many attorneys are comfortable advising on both Title 18 and Title 35, but here at COLawTeam, we know the in’s and out’s of these animal cases and how they can overlap.
Criminal defense representation is typically offered on a flat fee basis. For information about our financing options, check out this page. However, if outside advice is given resolving a civil case, a PACFA matter, or animal control relations, we typically will charge hourly. We regularly give student and veteran discounts, though, and work with all of our clients to better the lives of their animals.
Replevin Representation
What do you do when someone steals your dog, cat, fish, iguana, etc.? Yes, you can perhaps regain possession if the person is a complete stranger, and you report them to the police for theft. But, what if they’re a known party who also may have rights to possess your animal? Is possession really 9/10ths of the law? The short answer in Colorado is “it depends.”
In some situations, with good documentation and evidence supporting your claim to ownership, you may be able to sue to regain possession of an animal on your own through a process called replevin. In such a case, we recommend that you have a working knowledge of similar cases, such as those in small claims court. We also would recommend that only well-spoken, highly educated folks undergo this course on their own. If this describes you, then we can still help guide you without doing full representation, and you should contact COLawTeam for help today for a custom coaching or DIY plan!
In other situations, we can handle the civil suit to regain possession of an animal from someone like an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend and handle all aspects of the representation for you. If you’re married and getting divorced and want to work out a custody or visitation plan, we can also help with that through our family law division.
