HB 17-1109

HB 17-1109 is a Colorado bill that changes how prosecutors can handle cases involving repeated sexual assaults on children. Currently, each district attorney must prosecute these crimes in their own jurisdiction where the assault occurred. The new law allows a prosecutor to charge and try all such incidents in any county where at least one of the acts happened or where an act related to the crime was committed. This means that prosecutors have more flexibility to bring cases against repeat offenders, making it easier to hold them accountable for multiple assaults across different areas. Since the bill has been signed into law, it is now enforceable and will affect how these types of cases are handled in Colorado courts.

Official Summary

In current law, several sex-assault-on-a-child crimes are designated 'pattern' offenses, meaning that the defendant has a pattern of sexually assaulting the same child repeatedly. When such assaults occur in more than one jurisdiction, the district attorney in each such jurisdiction must prosecute a case for the incident that occurred in his or her jurisdiction. The bill allows a prosecutor to charge and bring a pattern-offense case for all such assaults in any jurisdiction where one of the acts occurred. The bill allows the prosecution of a defendant charged with sex-assault-on-a-child pattern offense or sex-assault-on-a-child-in-a-position-of-trust pattern offense to be tried: In a county where at least one or more of the incidents of sexual contact occurred; or In a county where an act in furtherance of the offense was committed.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

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