Colorado Criminal Conspiracy Defense Lawyers

A person commits “conspiracy to commit a crime” if: (1) he or she intends to promote or facilitate the commission of a crime; (2) he or she agrees with one or more people that all or some of them will engage in conduct that constitutes either a crime or an attempt to commit a crime; and (3) an overt act in pursuance of that conspiracy is proved to have been done by him or by a person with whom he conspired.

A person does not need to know the identity of all of the co-conspirators in order to be convicted of criminal conspiracy. Also, if a person conspires to commit a number of crimes, he is guilty of only one conspiracy so long as such multiple crimes are part of a single criminal episode.

It is an affirmative defense to a charge of conspiracy that the offender, after conspiring to commit a crime, thwarted the success of the conspiracy, under circumstances manifesting a complete and voluntary renunciation of his criminal intent.

Generally, the severity of criminal conspiracy is one step less severe than the crime he or she was conspiring to commit. Thus, conspiracy to commit a class 1 felony is a class 2 felony, conspiracy to commit a class 2 felony is a class 3 felony, conspiracy to commit a class 3 felony is a class 4 felony; conspiracy to commit a class 4 felony is a class 5 felony, and conspiracy to commit a class 5 or 6 felony is a class 6 felony.

Similarly, conspiracy to commit a class 1 misdemeanor is a class 2 misdemeanor. Conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor other than a class 1 misdemeanor is a class 3 misdemeanor. Conspiracy to commit a petty offense is a crime of the same class as the offense itself.

Criminal conspiracy to commit a violent crime is itself considered a violent crime, and the appropriate sentencing enhancements are applicable. However, if the particular conduct charged to constitute a criminal conspiracy is so inherently unlikely to result or culminate in the commission of a crime that neither that conduct nor the offender presents a public danger warranting the mandated grading of the offense, the court may enter judgment and impose sentence for a crime of a lesser class or, in extreme cases, may dismiss the prosecution.