H. Michael Steinberg - Colorado Criminal Defense Specialist Mr. Steinberg graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1978, cum laude (with honors) with a B.A. in Legal Studies/Honors Studies. Thereafter he graduated from the University of Oregon Law School in 1982. and came to the great state of Colorado. His first position as an attorney was to work side by side with one of the great District Court judges of the Denver bench, the Honorable Alvin D. Litchenstein. Judge Litchenstein taught Mr. Steinberg the meaning of hard work to accomplish just results in, and out, of the courtroom. As a career district attorney for over twelve years, Mr. Steinberg has handled several thousand serious felony cases and countless misdemeanor and traffic cases. He has taken dozens of jury trials to verdict and has argued hundreds of contested adversarial hearings while actively engaged in the practice of trial and appellate law in the Denver Area area for the last seventeen years. From 1984 to 1997, Mr. Steinberg was a Senior Trial Deputy District Attorney for the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office - the second largest judicial district in the State of Colorado. Mr. Steinberg prosecuted numerous top level felony cases, including several high profile felony crimes of violence and white collar criminal cases (see below). Mr. Steinberg stays up to date with the ever changing area of criminallaw - for many years he has been an instructor at the Community College of Aurora. Mr. Steinberg also teaches law enforcement officers and cadets at sheriff and police academies along the front range...among them the Colorado Sheriffs Training Institute , and the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Training Academy as well as the retraining of the security forces at Rocky Flats -(which involves the retooling of the armed and unarmed uniformed protective force involved in the physical protection of the DOE/Rocky Flats ETS property site). Among the courses he regularly teaches are Constitutional Law - emphasis on all aspects of search and seizure law, Juvenile Law, Torts and Personal Injury Law, Evidence, Criminal Law and Procedure, Criminology, Use of Force, Courtroom Testimony, the civil liability of police officers and several other courses relating to law enforcement issues. Mr. Steinberg's experience also includes an extensive foundation in appellate work. As a former Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Colorado, Criminal Enforcement Section, he has pursued several complex appeals in the Colorado Court of Appeals and in the Colorado Supreme Court on behalf of the the State. Several of those cases have made new law in the state. He now brings that appellate experience to bear on behalf of his clients Many of Mr. Steinberg's cases have been published by the Colorado Court of Appeal and the Colorado Supreme Court. When you are being accused of criminal conduct, what you need is a attorney who is just as driven by the desire to defend people as the prosecutor is driven by the need to prosecute. Civil attorneys, to me meaning attorneys who devote less than half of their practice to criminal defense, usually concern themselves with proving a case. They handle cases by presenting proof of some injury caused by the other side. Criminal defense attorneys think in terms of attacking a case, knowing that they must focus on what the other side is trying to prove so that this 'proof' can be picked apart, piece by piece. Criminal defense attorneys appreciate that the opponent must prove a charge against their client "beyond a reasonable doubt," a standard of proof that must be exploited, a standard of proof much higher than civil attorneys apply in their cases. And criminal defense attorneys attack cases with tools never used by civil attorneys. Motions to suppress interviews and statements, to suppress evidence seized from an office, home or computer, or to exclude business records, are examples of such tools. The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the United States Constitution are such tools. The complex and ever changing caselaw relating to crimes, criminal procedure and criminal evidence is another such tool, a tool that is not used well by a attorney who doesn't practice in the criminal courts daily. Unless your attorney regularly deals with such criminal law issues, his or her imagination may not be primed to seize upon the subtle nuances of the facts which will permit the fashioning of a winning defense. Contact Me Today 877-533-6276

Rape Shield Law

Colorado Rape Shield Law

18-3-407. Victim's and witness' prior history - evidentiary hearing.

Statute text

Evidence of specific instances of the victim's or a witness' prior or subsequent sexual conduct, opinion evidence of the victim's or a witness' sexual conduct, and reputation evidence of the victim's or a witness' sexual conduct shall be presumed to be irrelevant except:

Evidence of the victim's or witness' prior or subsequent sexual conduct with the actor;
Evidence of specific instances of sexual activity showing the source or origin of semen, pregnancy, disease, or any similar evidence of sexual intercourse offered for the purpose of showing that the act or acts charged were or were not committed by the defendant.

In any criminal prosecution under sections 18-3-402 to 18-3-405.5, 18-6-301, 18-6-302, 18-6-403, and 18-6-404, or for attempt or conspiracy to commit any crime under sections 18-3-402 to 18-3-405.5, 18-6-301, 18-6-302, 18-6-403, and 18-6-404, if evidence, that is not excepted under subsection (1) of this section, of specific instances of the victim's or a witness' prior or subsequent sexual conduct, or opinion evidence of the victim's or a witness' sexual conduct, or reputation evidence of the victim's or a witness' sexual conduct, or evidence that the victim or a witness has a history of false reporting of sexual assaults is to be offered at trial, the following procedure shall be followed:

A written motion shall be made at least thirty days prior to trial, unless later for good cause shown, to the court and to the opposing parties stating that the moving party has an offer of proof of the relevancy and materiality of evidence of specific instances of the victim's or witness' prior or subsequent sexual conduct, or opinion evidence of the victim's or witness' sexual conduct, or reputation evidence of the victim's or witness' sexual conduct, or evidence that the victim or witness has a history of false reporting of sexual assaults that is proposed to be presented.
The written motion shall be accompanied by an affidavit in which the offer of proof shall be stated.
If the court finds that the offer of proof is sufficient, the court shall notify the other party of such and set a hearing to be held in camera prior to trial. In such hearing, the court shall allow the questioning of the victim or witness regarding the offer of proof made by the moving party and shall otherwise allow a full presentation of the offer of proof including, but not limited to, the presentation of witnesses.
An in camera hearing may be held during trial if evidence first becomes available at the time of the trial or for good cause shown.
At the conclusion of the hearing, if the court finds that the evidence proposed to be offered regarding the sexual conduct of the victim or witness is relevant to a material issue to the case, the court shall order that evidence may be introduced and prescribe the nature of the evidence or questions to be permitted. The moving party may then offer evidence pursuant to the order of the court.