So after the series on burdens of proof, I'm moving on to another issue of public importance that Denver criminal defense lawyers should be familiar with: crimes. Basically here's how it will work. I'll pick a crime every day or so and tell you about it. It might come from the Post, an interesting case I work on or hear about, or just something I'm thinking about that day. The idea here is to familiarize folks a little bit about the Colorado Criminal Code, hopefully in a way that's accessible and reasonably entertaining.
Our first crime here is something I though I saw on the news, but can no longer find a link for. It's about incest. Generally, incest is defined as sex between people who are too close on the tree of consanguinity (that's the family tree for those who aren't legally inclined). How close you have to be to call it incest depends on where you are. Heck, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were like fifth cousins or something, but they weren't calling a criminal defense lawyer to defend themselves against charges. Generally, it's to the level of first cousins or closer, though some societies say it has to be within the same household.
Again though, that's not how these statutes are typically used. If two adult cousins mess around, it's pretty unlikely (read, almost certain not to) result in criminal charges. Basically, incest becomes a prosecutable offense when one of the parties is way, way, way too young to consent. At that point, it becomes a very severe sex crime, where a Denver criminal defense lawyer needs to get involved to help avoid the most severe consequences, up to a likely sentence of life in prison.
Why in the world these crimes aren't simply called statutory rape (or better, yet, just rape) is sort of beyond me. I think the state likes to throw an extra nasty stigma on those who are sick enough to mess around within their own household, which is sort of dumb. Isn't having sex with most 11 year olds pretty gross? I support getting these folks justice, but also as a Denver criminal defense lawyer want to ensure everybody gets vigorous defense.
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