Soliciting a felony in Colorado
Under Section 18-2-301 of the Colorado Revised Statutes (C.R.S.) you commit
criminal solicitation when:
- You attempt to persuade another person to commit a felony, or
- You offer your services or the services of a third party as either a principal or accomplice to commit a felony;
AND
- You intend to promote or facilitate the commission of that crime, under circumstances strongly corroborative of that intent.
Solicitation penalties
Penalties for solicitation depend on the crime you solicited. In general, the punishment for solicitation is one class of felony less serious than the crime solicited.
Defenses to solicitation can be quite varied, but often involve showing that there is no evidence “strongly corroborative” of an intent to cause the commission of a crime.
Because solicitation defenses can be quite technical, it is imperative to retain an experienced Colorado solicitation lawyer as soon as possible after you have been charged.
To help you better understand Colorado's criminal solicitation law, our
Denver Colorado criminal defense lawyers discuss the following, below:
Colorado class 1 felony is a class 2 felony, punishable by up to 24 years in prison.
If the felony solicited is not defined under the Colorado Criminal Code (Title 18 of the C.R.S.) and no penalty is specifically set forth in the statute, soliciting that felony is a class 6 felony.
Drug felonies are slightly different. Except as otherwise provided by law:
For a full list of the presumptive range of prison sentences for each class of felonies and drug felonies, as well as possible criminal fines, please see our article on Colorado Felony Sentencing.
Additionally, note that regardless of the class of felony committed, if Colorado law defines the crime as a crime of violence, you will face an increased sentence (up to twice as long) and prison time will be mandatory.
To learn more about penalties for Colorado crimes of violence, please see our article on Colorado Violent Crimes Sentencing (18-1.3-406 C.R.S.).
You changed your mind
It is an affirmative defense to solicitation charges that after soliciting another person to commit a felony, you persuaded that person not to do so or otherwise prevented the commission of the crime. The burden is on you, however, to show that you did so under circumstances manifesting a complete and voluntary renunciation of the crime.11
- Example: After Ethan's girlfriend breaks up with him, Ethan hires someone to kidnap her minor child. However, after he cools down, he realizes it's a bad idea. He calls it off, but the kidnapper goes ahead with the crime anyway. Ethan is arrested and charged with solicitation of kidnapping. But after Ethan's Colorado solicitation attorney discovers text messages and emails showing that Ethan tried repeatedly to call off the crime, the prosecutor drops the charges.
Note that your renunciation and abandonment of the crime will not be considered voluntary and complete if it is motivated in whole or in part by:
- A belief that a circumstance exists which increases the probability of detection or apprehension or which makes the consummation of the crime more difficult; or
- A decision to postpone the crime until another time or to substitute another victim or another but similar objective.12
Illegal search and seizure
If the evidence against you was obtained as the result of an illegal Colorado search and seizure, your Denver criminal attorney can bring a motion to suppress that evidence.
This is a particularly effective defense in a solicitation case, where the prosecutor must establish your intent to facilitate a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. If any of the corroborating evidence is suppressed, it can be a crippling blow to the prosecutor's case. Your Colorado criminal defense attorney will often be able to use the suppression to negotiating an acceptable plea bargain. In some cases, it can even lead to the prosecution dropping the case against you entirely.
Colorado crime of conspiracy, 18-2-201 C.R.S. and the Colorado crime of attempt,18-2-101 C.R.S., As a result, the penalties for each of these crimes is identical.
A key difference between solicitation and conspiracy is that for the crime of conspiracy to take place, there must be an agreement between at least two people to commit a crime and an overt act in furtherance of that agreement. In the offense of criminal solicitation, on the other hand, the motive or intent of the person solicited is irrelevant to the question of whether the person soliciting the crime has violated the solicitation statute.
And to be guilty of criminal attempt, you must engage in conduct constituting a substantial step toward the commission of the offense. This differs from both solicitation and conspiracy, neither of which require anything more than statements (albeit ones made with intent to facilitate or engage in a crime).
The important thing to note is that each of these offenses requires the proof of at least one fact not required by the other. For instance, a conspiracy may be committed without the inducement required for the crime of solicitation. Solicitation, on the other hand, may be committed without the parties ever reaching an agreement or without any overt act in furtherance of the crime solicited.
This means that none of these crimes is a lesser-included offense of the other(s). Another way of saying this is that the crimes do not merge. This means that you can be convicted of both solicitation and conspiracy, or of both solicitation and attempt, or possibly even of all three.
- Example: Jessica approaches her friend Mary about stealing some cocaine from the house of a drug dealer the two of them know. When Mary hesitates, Jessica sends her several text messages that establish that she is serious about doing it. At this point, Jessica is guilty of criminally solicitation. Later, Mary agrees and they work out a plan. Jessica and Mary are now guilty of criminal conspiracy. Still later, the women try to break into the drug dealer's house, but they are caught by a pair of police officers who have had the dealer under surveillance. Jessica is charged with solicitation, conspiracy AND attempt to commit burglary and theft of a controlled substance. Mary is charged with conspiracy and attempt.
Soliciting for child prostitution,18-7-402 C.R.S., is a different offense than criminal solicitation.
Criminal solicitation is what is known as an “inchoate” offense. An inchoate offense is one that exists only in relation to a separate crime that is defined elsewhere in the Colorado criminal code. Attempt consists of trying to commit a specific crime. Solicitation is an inducement to someone to commit a specific crime.
Punishment for these inchoate offenses depends on the penalty for the specific crime attempted or solicited. So, for instance, solicitation to commit Colorado first degree murder (18-3-102 C.R.S.), a class 1 felony, is a class 2 felony. Solicitation to commit Colorado robbery (18-4-301 C.R.S.), a class 4 felony, is a class 5 felony. And so on.
But soliciting for child prostitution is a crime in and of itself. It does not make reference to any other section of the criminal code. Nor is the punishment for soliciting child prostitution dependent on any other crime. In fact, there is no such crime as child prostitution.
What makes this distinction important is that soliciting for child prostitution is not a specific intent crime. While abandonment and renunciation is an affirmative defense to solicitation, it is not a defense to soliciting for child prostitution.13
Colorado’s "Criminal Solicitation" Laws (18-2-301 C.R.S.)
