Domestic Violence (Sentence Enhancer)

Alexis explains: "let's talk about domestic violence charges in colorado the first thing to understand with domestic violence charges is there is no charge of domestic violence that can just be applied there has to be an underlying criminal offense in order for domestic violence to be applied to it in other words the charge of domestic violence is what we call a sentence enhancer or an enhancement"

Alexis explains: "now that we understand that domestic violence is actually a sentence enhancer not its own independent charge let's talk about some of the typical criminal offenses that are underlying commonly seen domestic violence cases in other words what are some typical criminal charges that are usually charged as an act of domestic violence the most common thing that we see here in colorado is someone being charged with a third degree assault as an act of domestic violence"

Alexis explains: "now the issue is there are any number of things that can be charged as an act of domestic violence there's no limitation a domestic violence enhancement is applied anytime a crime is committed by one person against another person with whom they are in an intimate relationship we'll delve a little bit further into what that intimate relationship means in later videos but the first thing to understand is there's no blanket charge of domestic violence domestic violence is a sentence enhancer that is applied to underlying criminal charges"

Alexis explains: "the charge of domestic violence is what we call a sentence enhancer or an enhancement you can't have just one blanket domestic violence charge it has to be applied to another offense"