Boulder Criminal Defense Law Blog

Imagine the horror of learning that your spouse had been attacked and brutally beaten. Now imagine that you are accused of committing the henious crime and sentenced to spend time in prison. This nightmare scenerio may sound like the plot of a new movie, but it was the reality for a man who in 1996 was wrongly convicted and imprisioned for the attempted murder of his wife and mother of his five children.  

Nine years after being locked behind bars, the man was freed after a judge ordered his release. Another man had confessed to the crime, a crime for which the loving husband and father had been convicted. Upon his release, the once happy father was a changed man.  

In recent years, much has been written about the need for reform of the American health care system. High costs are often driven by health insurance companies that often dictate what health care providers and types of procedures are covered. In many cases, billing to private health insurance and Medicare is a complex and often misguided process carried out by business administrators, secretaries or even doctors themselves in the case of sole practitioners. 

One dermatologist was recently sentenced to more than a year in prison on charges related to health care fraud. The criminal charges stemmed from allegations related to the doctor’s insurance billing procedures. According to legal documents, the doctor in question was accused of engaging in false and fraudulent billing practices from 2007 through 2011. 

Colorado law allows some inmates at prisons and juvenile detention centers to be released early and put on parole. Usually, this means that while the person will not be incarcerated, he or she will still be under a significant amount of supervision. Parolees are subject to a number of restrictions and are required to check in regularly with a parole officer.

Not every parolee follows these rules, though. According to the Colorado Department of Corrections, approximately 136 Colorado parolees abscond every month. Some of these individuals end up committing serious crimes.

In many cases, individuals charged in criminal cases related to drug possession and drug distribution receive sentences that do not fit the crime. Jails and prisons around the United States are dealing with overcrowding problems and federal detention facilities are at nearly 140 percent capacity. As states grapple with how to fund keeping many of these non-violent offenders behind bars, taxpayers are often called upon to foot the bill.