Criminal Defense Lawyer Aaron P. Gaddis
Top rated criminal defense since 2006
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Colorado Springs Criminal Defense
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Your Criminal Defense Starts Now
If you have been arrested in El Paso County, the questions come faster than the answers. What happens next. Whether you can lose your licence. Whether your job survives this. Whether you should have said anything at all.
Colorado Springs Criminal Defense, LLC is a criminal defense firm and nothing else. Aaron P. Gaddis has practiced criminal law in Colorado since 2006, first as a public defender and since 2019 as the attorney behind this firm. If you are looking for a Colorado Springs criminal defense lawyer, what follows is the information you would get in a first phone call, written down.
Call (719) 578-3344.
What Happens After an Arrest in El Paso County
The first days after an arrest move faster than most people expect, and several deadlines start running before anyone explains them to you. Knowing the sequence is the difference between reacting and preparing.
Booking and the First Appearance
Most people arrested in Colorado Springs are booked into the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center. From there the first court appearance happens quickly. That hearing is where bond is addressed and where the court advises you of what is being pursued against you.
The Protection Order You Did Not Ask For
Colorado law creates a mandatory protection order against anyone charged with a criminal offense under Title 18. Under C.R.S. 18-1-1001, it takes effect the moment you are advised of your rights at arraignment or your first appearance, and it remains in effect until the case reaches final disposition.
The order restrains you from contacting or interfering with any alleged victim or witness. In domestic violence cases the court can go further and order you out of your own home. All of this happens before any finding of guilt, and violating the order is a separate criminal charge.
Where the Case Goes Next
The District Attorney decides what to file, and that decision is not always the same as what you were arrested for. Misdemeanors are handled in county court. Felonies begin in county court and move to district court, usually after a preliminary hearing or a waiver of one.
If the arrest involved a DUI, a second clock is already running. The Division of Motor Vehicles case is separate from the criminal case and has its own much shorter deadline. That is covered on our DMV hearing page.
What To Do Before Anything Else
Stop talking about the case. Not to police, not to the alleged victim, not on the phone from the jail, where calls are recorded. The most common way a defensible case becomes a difficult one is a statement made in the first week by someone trying to explain themselves.
Charges Our Colorado Springs Criminal Defense Attorney Handles
This firm handles criminal cases only. The charges below are the ones that come through the door most often, and each links to a page covering how that offense works under Colorado law.
Impaired Driving
An arrest for DUI or DWAI starts two cases at once. One is criminal. The other is administrative and is decided at a DMV hearing that has nothing to do with the courtroom. Drivers under twenty-one face a third layer, covered on our minor in possession page.
Violence and Protection Orders
An assault charge can run from a misdemeanor to a class 3 felony depending on the injury alleged and who the complaining witness is. Domestic violence is not a separate charge in Colorado but an enhancer attached to another offense, and it carries consequences that begin before any hearing. Offenses designated crimes of violence carry mandatory sentencing that removes much of a judge's discretion, and nearly every case of this kind involves a protection order.
Drugs, Property and Financial Offenses
In drug cases, how the substance was found is often a stronger issue than what was found. Theft is graded by value, so the line between a petty offense and a felony can turn on a single disputed number. White collar matters are built on documents, which means the defense usually starts well before any courtroom appearance. Weapons charges are frequently filed alongside something else and carry penalties of their own.
Sex Offenses and Juvenile Cases
The registration consequences of a sex offense conviction reach housing, employment and family law, and they outlast the sentence. Juvenile cases run on their own procedure and their own sentencing options, and early decisions affect whether a case stays in juvenile court at all.
Traffic, Probation and Case Categories
Points from traffic offenses accumulate quietly, and many drivers learn they are facing a suspension only after the offense that pushed them over. A probation violation hearing uses a lower standard of proof than a trial, and the original sentence is back on the table. We handle both felonies and misdemeanors, including cases involving service members stationed in El Paso County, where a civilian charge can carry command consequences alongside the criminal one.
For cases that have already resolved, Colorado has widened what can be sealed in recent years. Eligibility depends on the disposition and how much time has passed, and it is covered on our record sealing page.
Where Your Case Will Be Heard
Which courthouse your case lands in depends on where the alleged offense happened, not on where you live. This firm appears across four counties in three judicial districts.
Fourth Judicial District: El Paso and Teller Counties
Most cases are heard at the El Paso County Judicial Building, 270 S Tejon Street in Colorado Springs, a short walk from our office at 10 Boulder Crescent Street. Teller County matters, including cases arising in Woodland Park and Cripple Creek, are heard at the Teller County Combined Courts, 101 W Bennett Avenue in Cripple Creek.
Tenth Judicial District: Pueblo County
Pueblo County cases are heard at the Pueblo Combined Court, 501 N. Elizabeth Street in Pueblo. The 10th Judicial District runs its own filing practices and its own docket rhythm, and knowing how a district actually operates matters as much as knowing the statute.
Eleventh Judicial District: Fremont County
Fremont County cases are heard at the Fremont Combined Court, 136 Justice Center Road in Canon City. Aaron Gaddis spent over four years working the Fremont County prison jurisdiction out of Salida as a public defender, which is why this firm takes cases there rather than referring them out.
Municipal Court Is Different
Not every charge filed in Colorado Springs goes to county or district court. The Colorado Springs Municipal Court handles ordinance violations separately, with its own penalties and its own record consequences. People often assume a municipal charge is minor and handle it alone, then find it surfacing later on a background check.
Why Choose Aaron Gaddis
Aaron P. Gaddis has been licensed to practice in Colorado since 2006, Colorado Bar number 37820. He has spent that time doing one kind of work.
Seven Years as a Public Defender
From 2006 to 2013 he worked for the Colorado State Public Defender's Office, posted first to Silverthorne on the I-70 corridor and then to Salida, where he spent over four years covering the prison jurisdiction around Canon City. Public defenders carry heavy caseloads in front of the same judges and the same prosecutors week after week. That is where a lawyer learns how a courtroom actually runs, as opposed to how it reads on paper.
Private Practice
He entered private practice as a partner at Black and Gaddis, and in 2019 opened Colorado Springs Criminal Defense, LLC to do one thing: defend people accused of crimes in the Pikes Peak region. There is no family law department, no real estate closing desk, no personal injury division.
What That Means for Your Case
Most people who call have never been arrested before. The first conversation is about the sequence, the deadlines already running, and what the filing actually says as opposed to what the arresting officer told you.
Common Questions About Criminal Charges in Colorado Springs
Do I Need a Criminal Defense Attorney for a First Offense?
A first offense is still a criminal charge, and in Colorado it still produces a record that follows you into background checks for housing and employment. The question is not whether the charge is serious enough to warrant a lawyer. It is whether you understand what the filing exposes you to, and most people do not.
What Is the Difference Between DUI and DWAI in Colorado?
Colorado charges DWAI at a lower level of impairment than DUI. A driver can be charged with DWAI on evidence of being affected to the slightest degree, which is a lower threshold than the one that supports a DUI. Both carry penalties, and both trigger a separate DMV case. The distinction matters at charging and it matters at sentencing.
How Long Does a Criminal Case Take in El Paso County?
It depends on the level of the charge and on whether the case resolves before trial. A misdemeanor may take a few months. A felony that goes to a preliminary hearing and then to district court takes considerably longer. Anyone who quotes you a fixed timeline before reading the discovery is guessing.
Will a Criminal Charge Show Up on a Background Check?
Arrests and filings can appear on background checks whether or not they end in a conviction. That is the reason record sealing exists as a separate area of Colorado law, and the reason how a case resolves matters beyond the sentence itself.
What Is a Mandatory Protection Order?
It is an order the court issues automatically against anyone charged with a Title 18 offense, under C.R.S. 18-1-1001. It restrains contact with the alleged victim and any witnesses, and in domestic violence cases it can exclude you from your home. It issues before any finding of guilt and lasts until the case is finally resolved.
Should I Talk to the Police If I Think I Can Explain?
No. The instinct to clear things up is the single most common way people damage their own cases. You have the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. Using both costs you nothing and preserves every option you have.
Speak With a Colorado Springs Criminal Defense Lawyer
Colorado Springs Criminal Defense, LLC represents people charged in El Paso, Teller, Pueblo and Fremont Counties. The office is at 10 Boulder Crescent Street, Suite 301, Colorado Springs, CO 80903, a short walk from the El Paso County courthouse.
Call (719) 578-3344 to talk about what you are facing.
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