Colorado Domestic Violence Statute: Charges, Penalties, and Protection Orders

If you’re facing Colorado domestic violence charges, the penalties depend on the underlying crime, because Colorado does not treat domestic violence as its own offense. It is a sentence enhancer attached to another charge, such as assault, harassment, or criminal mischief, when the alleged victim is or was an intimate partner. The enhancer brings its own mandatory consequences on top of whatever the underlying offense carries: a required arrest, an automatic protection order, firearm surrender, a treatment program, and a conviction that is extremely hard to seal.

When the Domestic Violence Label Attaches

Colorado defines domestic violence as any act or threatened act of violence against a person with whom you have or had an intimate relationship. It also covers crimes against property or animals when used as a tool of coercion, control, punishment, intimidation, or revenge against an intimate partner.¹ Breaking a partner’s phone to stop them from calling for help can draw the designation just as a physical assault can.

An “intimate relationship” includes current or former spouses, people who share a child, and people who are or were in a romantic relationship. Living together is not required. Courts look at how long the relationship lasted, how the people interacted, and how often they had contact.¹ Roommates, friends, and acquaintances fall outside the definition unless a romantic connection existed.

The statute also sweeps in coercive conduct aimed at stripping away a partner’s autonomy: isolating them from family, controlling their finances or communications, threatening pets, or using immigration status as leverage.¹

What Happens at Arrest

Colorado is a mandatory-arrest state for domestic violence. When officers respond and find probable cause that someone committed a domestic violence offense, they must arrest the suspect. The alleged victim’s wishes do not matter at that point, and officers cannot simply issue a summons.²

After arrest, the accused is held without bond until a judge issues a mandatory protection order and the defendant acknowledges it on the record.³ Prosecutors then decide whether to pursue charges, and a victim who later recants does not automatically end the case. If the evidence supports the charge, prosecution typically moves forward.

The Mandatory Protection Order

At your first court appearance, the judge enters a mandatory protection order restricting contact with the alleged victim. It stays in place for the entire duration of the case.³ Violating it is a separate criminal offense, so an accidental text or an encounter you fail to leave can produce new charges on top of the original case.

Not every order is absolute no-contact. Judges can allow limited communication for co-parenting or let a defendant return to a shared residence under conditions. Changing the terms requires a formal motion. The alleged victim’s preference carries weight, but the judge decides.

Penalties by Underlying Offense

Because domestic violence is an enhancer, the sentence tracks whatever offense the state proves. A harassment case and a strangulation case carry very different exposures.

Misdemeanors

Third-degree assault, one of the most common pairings with a domestic violence designation, is a Class 1 misdemeanor.⁴ For offenses committed on or after March 1, 2022, a standard Class 1 misdemeanor carries up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Third-degree assault is classified as an extraordinary risk crime, which expands the sentencing range beyond the standard Class 1 ceiling. Harassment and criminal mischief against an intimate partner can also carry the enhancer, with penalties scaling to the conduct.

Felonies

Second-degree assault is typically a Class 4 felony, carrying two to six years in prison, a mandatory three-year parole period, and fines from $2,000 to $500,000. When a victim suffers serious bodily injury during certain violent felonies, the charge can rise to a Class 3 felony, with four to twelve years in prison and fines up to $750,000.⁵

Strangulation is treated harshly. Under the first-degree assault statute, applying pressure to someone’s neck or blocking their airway in a way that causes serious bodily injury is a Class 3 felony. In a sudden heat of passion, it drops to a Class 5 felony, which still means one to three years in prison.⁶

Habitual Offender Status

If you have three or more prior convictions involving domestic violence and are sentenced for another domestic violence offense, the new charge is elevated to a Class 5 felony punishable by one to three years in prison and fines of $1,000 to $100,000, even if it would otherwise be a misdemeanor. Priors can come from any jurisdiction, each arising from a separate incident. If a prior conviction included a domestic violence finding made by a judge rather than by jury verdict or defendant admission, the prosecution must prove to the current jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the earlier case involved domestic violence.⁷

Mandatory Treatment Evaluation and Program

Every person convicted of a crime with a domestic violence designation must complete a treatment evaluation and a treatment program meeting Domestic Violence Offender Management Board standards.⁷ This is not limited to felonies. A misdemeanor harassment plea with a domestic violence finding triggers the same mandate. The only carve-out is defendants sentenced to the Department of Corrections.

The evaluator places each person at Level A, B, or C based on risk and needs, with Level C the most intensive. A prior domestic violence conviction or a history of weapon use rules out Level A automatically. You pay for the evaluation, and treatment runs on a sliding fee scale based on ability to pay.⁷ If treatment is deemed inappropriate, the provider sends the case back to the court for an alternative disposition rather than releasing the defendant from the requirement.

Firearm Surrender

Losing the right to possess firearms is one of the most immediate consequences, and it can happen before any conviction.

When the mandatory protection order issued at your first appearance qualifies under federal law, the court must order you to stop possessing or purchasing firearms and ammunition and to give up anything you currently have. The default surrender deadline is 24 hours after service of the order. A court can extend it to 72 hours for firearms and up to five days for ammunition if you show you cannot comply within the initial window.³ Civil protection orders carry a parallel requirement when the court finds the order involves domestic violence and the conduct included physical force or its threat.⁸

A conviction for any crime with a domestic violence designation, felony or misdemeanor, triggers a separate state firearm prohibition that lasts until the sentence is fully satisfied.⁷ The federal ban under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9) layers on top of that and permanently bars anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from possessing firearms or ammunition. Even after the Colorado sentence ends, the federal prohibition may remain in effect for life.

Compliance is documented, not assumed. You must file a sworn affidavit within seven business days of the relinquishment order, identifying each firearm and whether it went to a licensed dealer, law enforcement, or a qualifying private party.⁹ Firearms cannot be transferred to family members or anyone in the same household. If you owned no firearms, you still file an affidavit saying so. A false affidavit or a failure to file can bring new charges.

Effect on Child Custody

In a parenting case, a court finding by a preponderance of the evidence that a parent committed domestic violence creates a presumption that joint decision-making over the other parent’s objection is not in the child’s best interests.¹⁰ A judge can override that presumption only if credible evidence shows the parents can cooperate safely.

Parenting time is also directly affected. Judges can impose supervised visitation, exchanges in protected settings, and limits on overnight time, with the safety of the child and the abused parent as the primary concern.¹⁰ Leaving the home because of domestic violence cannot be held against a parent. If a judge orders unsupervised parenting time for an accused parent, the judge must put the reasoning on the record.

Immigration Consequences

For non-citizens, a conviction can be as serious as any jail sentence. Federal law makes any non-citizen deportable if they are convicted of a “crime of domestic violence” after admission to the United States, defined as a crime of violence against a current or former spouse, co-parent, cohabitant, or anyone else protected under state domestic violence laws. A court finding that a non-citizen violated a protection order designed to prevent violence, threats, or harassment is independently enough to trigger deportability.¹¹

Certain misdemeanor domestic violence offenses can also be treated as aggravated felonies for immigration purposes if the sentence imposed is one year or more, even if entirely suspended. Aggravated felony classification brings mandatory detention, near-automatic removal, and permanent bars on reentry. Colorado’s 2022 change capping Class 1 misdemeanor jail time at 364 days was aimed at this threshold, but the risk remains on felony convictions and any sentence at or above one year.

Record Sealing After the Case

A conviction for a crime whose underlying facts include domestic violence is listed among those not eligible for standard record sealing.¹² It will show up on background checks indefinitely, affecting employment, housing, professional licensing, and security clearances.

A narrow exception exists for misdemeanor convictions. A court may seal the record if the district attorney consents, or if you prove by clear and convincing evidence that the need to seal is significant and substantial, enough time has passed that you are no longer a public safety threat, and public access is no longer necessary.¹² That is a high bar, and many petitions are denied.

If charges are fully dismissed, Colorado law requires automatic sealing. The court should enter the sealing order at disposition and serve it within 28 days, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is supposed to seal the record automatically on receiving the disposition. If neither happens, you can file a motion to seal at any time without fees.¹³ Automatic sealing does not always happen on schedule, so checking your record after a dismissal is worth the effort.

Deferred judgments are allowed in domestic violence cases: you plead guilty, complete conditions like the treatment program, and the court dismisses the charge.⁷ Because domestic violence offenses fall under the Victim Rights Act, the simplified automatic-sealing process does not apply, and the court must hold a hearing before sealing even a successfully completed deferred judgment.¹² A completed deferred judgment ending in dismissal gives a far better shot at sealing than a straight conviction, but it is not automatic.

1
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 18, Article 6, Part 8, Section 18-6-800.3
2
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 18, Article 6, Part 8, Section 18-6-803.6
3
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. C.R.S. 18-1-1001
4
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 18, Article 3, Part 2, Section 18-3-204
5
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 18, Article 1.3, Part 4, Section 18-1.3-401
6
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 18, Article 3, Part 2, Section 18-3-202
7
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 18, Article 6, Part 8, Section 18-6-801
8
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 13, Article 14, Section 13-14-105.5
9
Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 688 – Affidavit of Relinquishment of Firearms
10
FindLaw. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 14, Section 14-10-124 – Best Interests of the Child
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens
12
Colorado Judicial Branch. Sealing Criminal Records – February 2025
13
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 24, Article 72, Part 7, Section 24-72-705