Expert Attorneys in Golden, Jefferson County, or Colorado, Ready to Represent You
If you have been accused of extortion, you have the right to fight the charges. An experienced attorney can help. At Pearson & Paris, P.C., we have more than 50 years of combined legal experience that we will use in your defense. Perhaps more importantly, our top criminal defense attorney is a former senior prosecutor who knows how district attorneys handle these cases. That knowledge allows us to create effective strategies ranging from negotiation to courtroom battles.
Call us at 303-872-4719 in the greater Denver area or toll free at 888-725-2609 across Colorado for a free initial consultation. You can also contact us online.
Whether in the Denver area, or anywhere in Colorado, extortion generally occurs where a person, without legal authority and with the intent to induce another person against that other person's will to perform an act or to refrain from performing an act, makes a substantial threat to confine or restrain, cause economic hardship or bodily injury to, or damage the property of, or reputation of, the threatened person or another person, and threatens these results by performing or causing an unlawful act to be performed.
Extortion is commonly known as blackmail. Extortion is also easily confused with driving a hard bargain. Although it is permissible to tell a competitor that if he doesn't sell his business to you that you'll drive him out of business leaving him destitute; this scenario becomes extortion where that statement is backed up with an unlawful act such as destroying a part of his inventory, i.e. criminal mischief, or physical injury, i.e. assault.
Most commonly, extortion becomes aggravated where the unlawful act is carried out with the use of a weapon.
Possible Consequences for Extortion
A conviction for extortion is a class 4 felony may result in the following sentencing options to include: (1) probation, with a possible jail sentence as a condition of probation of up to ninety (90) days, or up to a two (2) year work release sentence as a condition of probation, or (2) a sentence to the department of corrections of two (2) years up to six (6) years, but as much as twelve (12) years if the court finds the presence of exceptional circumstances, with a mandatory parole period of three (3) years.
Aggravated extortion is a class 3 felony may result in the following sentencing options to include: (1) probation, with a possible jail sentence as a condition of probation of up to ninety (90) days, or up to a two (2) year work release sentence as a condition of probation, or (2) a sentence to the department of corrections of four (4) years up to twelve (12) years, but as much as twenty-four (24) years if the court finds the presence of exceptional circumstances, with a mandatory parole period of five (5) years.
Possible Defenses for Extortion
The prosecution must should that the unlawful act was done in connection with the threat. Therefore, we must determine to what extent the unlawful act, if it occurred at all, was done to carry through with the threat. Further, the defense will necessarily focus to what extent the alleged unlawful act was even committed at all, or whether there are any particular defenses available to that act. For example, if the unlawful act is an alleged assault, it is necessary determine whether self-defense may apply to that act.
The remaining defenses that may be applied in an extortion case apply with equal force to those that may apply in any other criminal case. This includes an analysis of any violation of constitutional rights, such as the right to remain silent, the right to counsel, the right to have any searches and seizures bases on probable cause, a proper warrant, and the right to due process in the proper preservation of evidence that may be used against you. There are many other defenses that are available that rely on scrutinizing and exposing weaknesses in the prosecutor's case, such as: biased or incompetent witnesses, flawed crime scene investigation, flawed administration and procedures in collecting breath, blood, or urine for forensic testing, incompetent computer evidence, flawed photo line-ups, and inaccurate crime scene / accident reconstructions.
It is important that you hire a skilled and experienced extortion lawyer to defend you in an extortion case in Golden, Jefferson County, or across Colorado.
Call us at 303-872-4719 in the greater Denver area or toll free across Colorado at 888-725-2609 for a free initial consultation. You can also contact us online.