By Attorney Charles E. Liken Jr., former Colorado Deputy District Attorney. For most people this is the first arrest of their lives — and the fear outruns the facts. Here's the realistic path through a first offense, stage by stage.
Charles E. Liken Jr., Esq. — On the Legal Front Lines · Former Government Investigator, Denver Human Services · Licensed Colorado Attorney · 20+ Years in Private Practice · Former Colorado Deputy District Attorney · Colorado Court-Appointed Child and Family Investigator
First-offense outcomes turn less on luck and more on sequence: what gets requested, challenged, and demonstrated — and when. This is the sequence.
The first court date is not decision day. Pleading guilty “to get it over with” before anyone has read the discovery is how people buy consequences they didn't owe.
Where LLF comes in: We enter the plea, set the schedule, and get the file — nothing is conceded until the evidence has been through the investigator's wringer.
DUI→DWAI (§ 42-4-1307(4), C.R.S.) is the most common first-offense resolution when the case has proof problems or strong mitigation: 8 points instead of 12, lower fines, lighter probation. Deferred judgments and, in the right facts, dismissals happen too.
Where LLF comes in: Attorney Liken negotiated cases like these as a prosecutor. He knows the proof thresholds and the kinds of weaknesses that can affect an offer, although each DA's office sets its own policies.
Voluntary evaluation, early Level II enrollment (§ 42-4-1301.3, C.R.S.), work and family documentation, character letters — assembled early, they change both offers and sentences.
Where LLF comes in: We hand the court a person, not a case number — the same packet quality prosecutors respect because it makes their decision defensible.
A typical first-DUI probationary sentence under § 42-4-1307(3), C.R.S.: suspended jail conditioned on education/therapy, 48–96 hours useful public service, fines and costs, MADD victim-impact panel, and up to two years' probation. DWAI trims each element.
Where LLF comes in: We structure terms around your job and kids — service schedules, treatment providers, and check-ins that fit a working life.
DUI convictions are excluded from routine record sealing in Colorado, but non-conviction records and some outcomes can be — and interlock, SR-22, and points all expire on schedules worth calendaring precisely.
Where LLF comes in: We leave you with a written exit map: every date, every filing, and what (if anything) can ever come off your record.
Ready when you are — talk it through with Attorney Liken.
Start here: a no-charge 20-minute phone call directly with Attorney Liken.
It depends on the profession and the outcome. Professional-license and employment consequences can often be managed with a disclosure strategy and, in some cases, a reduction to DWAI, but no result is guaranteed.
Sometimes — suppression of the stop or tests, proof failures, and officer non-appearance can each lead to a dismissal. Reductions can also result from evidentiary weakness; outcomes depend on the facts, and no outcome is guaranteed.
The state brings a prosecutor, a certified machine, a crime lab, and the DMV. Bringing nothing to that table is a choice — an expensive one measured in points, premiums, and permanent records.
A DUI or DWAI conviction is excluded from the standard sealing petition (§ 24-72-706(2)(a)(III), C.R.S.), and a felony DUI cannot be sealed, which is exactly why the charge you're convicted of, if any, matters so much now.
First offenses are where early, careful case review can matter: a rushed guilty plea and a fully reviewed case can end in different charges (DUI or DWAI), different points (12 or 8), and different lengths of consequences. Outcomes depend on the facts, and no result is guaranteed.
Attorney Liken's file review isn't a formality — it's a government investigator (700+ cases) reading reports the way he wrote them, and a former Deputy District Attorney pricing the case the way the prosecution does. That's the entire premise of this firm: the state's experience, working for you.
Judges and prosecutors see thousands of first offenses; what they remember is how a person responded. Respond well — with counsel, with structure, and with the seriousness that makes leniency easy to justify.
Before you talk to anyone — DA, DMV, insurance — get twenty minutes with the prosecutor turned defender. Don't let the DMV hearing-request deadline, generally seven days from your notice of revocation, pass.
For Colorado U.S. military veterans and active-duty servicemembers, cleared by DD-214 or Department of Defense status check. Member benefits are shown only inside the ServiceShield member portal.
ServiceShield Program Member portal Colorado laws, step by step