Felony Stalking Charge Dismissed

Robinson & Henry’s knowledgeable attorneys give their professional insights in “From Our Perspective,” where we take a closer look at successful outcomes achieved for our clients. 

In this episode, Robinson & Henry Criminal Defense Partner Ryan Robertson discusses a high-stakes case where a painful divorce and suspected infidelity led to felony stalking charges for a devoted father. Robertson reveals the key turning point that forced prosecutors to reconsider the charges. 

Past results afford no guarantee of future results; each matter is different and must be judged on its own merits. Facts are those of an actual Robinson & Henry criminal defense case. 

Our client was in the middle of a painful divorce when rumors of infidelity surfaced. Driven by suspicion, he placed a GPS tracker on his wife’s car. When that information surfaced during the divorce proceedings, the situation escalated. The wife reported the tracking to law enforcement, and our client was charged with felony stalking, a domestic violence-related offense in Colorado.

A conviction would bring consequences beyond jail time. Our client, a professional,  not only faced reputational harm, job loss, and a permanent mark on background checks, but he also faced custody restrictions. This family-law-case-turned-criminal-defense matter was not a minor legal issue. The father could have faced:

• Years in prison

• Domestic violence designation

• Loss of his right to own or possess firearms

• A permanent criminal record

While building the defense, Robertson’s team discovered a critical piece of information. In the related family court case, the judge had already determined that the GPS tracker did not constitute stalking. 

The judge found that the device was used only once, that the wife had not even discovered it until the divorce case, and that there was no pattern of threatening or repeated behavior. 

With this advantage, Robertson’s team obtained the official transcript from the family court and presented it to prosecutors. Robertson approached the case from a position of strength, emphasizing that a judge had already concluded there was no probable cause to support a stalking allegation.

Despite the family court findings, prosecutors initially resisted dismissing the charges. They believed another judge might interpret the case differently. Robertson and his team, however, stood firm. He underscored that he was prepared to defend our client aggressively and that a dismissal was the appropriate outcome.

Negotiations resulted in the D.A.’s office ultimately dropping the case. The charges were dismissed, and our client’s record was later sealed, thereby protecting his future and professional reputation.

Our client was relieved and grateful, knowing how different his future could have looked had the case moved forward.

Robertson emphasizes several important lessons for anyone going through a contentious divorce or criminal investigation: 

• Never use a tracking device, even if you believe you are simply gathering information. Placing a tracker on someone’s vehicle can quickly escalate into a criminal matter and result in serious legal consequences. 

• Staying organized and maintaining communication with your attorneys can make a significant difference.  Contact a criminal defense attorney as soon as charges are filed or even threatened. Early representation allows an attorney to investigate, negotiate, and prevent avoidable mistakes that could later be used in court. 

• Be honest and transparent with your attorneys about every detail, no matter how insignificant it may seem. 

In conclusion, this client’s diligence helped uncover crucial information that significantly shaped the defense strategy and ultimately led to the dismissal of his case.

If you’re facing felony charges, contact a criminal defense attorney right away. Contact Robinson & Henry for a consultation and protect your future. Book online or call 303-688-0944.

Read this video’s full transcript:

Question: Ryan, thank you for joining me. Tell me more about what happened to your client and the allegations he was facing.

Ryan: We had a client who was going through a pretty nasty divorce. And throughout the divorce proceedings, there were these allegations of infidelity by his soon to be ex-wife. 

As a result of that, he had placed a tracker on her car to figure out if there was infidelity. He found out that, in fact, there was that came out during the proceedings. She called the police, and the police charged him with stalking. 

Question: What was your client's biggest fear when he reached out to you? 

Ryan: Obviously, domestic violence felony is just something that most people cannot handle with any sort of major career. He is a professional. As a result of that, he's worried that he's going to lose his job.

He's going to forever have this black mark against his record and against his criminal background check. Obviously, whenever you see stalking, we have this ingrained thought inside our head of what stalking is and there's just really no way to come back from that.

Question: What was at stake for your client facing these charges? 

Ryan: Obviously, he could have faced some adverse issues with the divorce proceeding. Certainly, he was facing several years in prison if he had been convicted of stalking. Again, the domestic violence tag, which includes not being able to possess or own a firearm and a permanent record on his criminal background search. 

Question: What was your strategy in this case based on the findings of the family court? 

Ryan: When we were going through it, we found that the family court had actually found that this wasn't stalking. The family court had previously made a record that based off of it being a one time instance, that the alleged victim in this hadn't even found out about it until the proceedings themselves, that there just wasn't probable cause.

We ordered that transcript, and we provided that to the prosecution to show, hey, listen, we already have a judge that has found this not to be probable cause. What do you want to do about this? We were able to start off on a much more aggressive footing. 

Question: What approach did you take negotiating with the district attorney's office?

Ryan: Well, obviously, whenever you have a judge who says that there isn't probable cause, you're looking at it from our perspective as a this needs to be a dismissal. And so that was the position that we took. 

Obviously, the district attorney's position was that they didn't want to immediately do a dismissal, that they thought that there could be a difference of opinion.

But what we decided was we were going to do a dismissal. We were going to do right by our client, and we were going to aggressively pursue this for him. 

Question: What was the outcome of this case and what did it mean for your client's future? 

Ryan: We were able to get a dismissal. All charges in the case has been sealed. He was extraordinarily thankful for our team here at Robinson & Henry. He was over the moon. 

Question: What lessons can potential clients take away from this case? 

Ryan: Well, certainly, I think one of the major factual issues is the using of that tracker. Don't use it. Don't even open yourself up to that. Especially if you're going through a really nasty divorce, you have to remember there's going to be allegations thrown a lot of the times both ways.

You have to protect yourself and you have to remember you have to have your lawyer consulted at all times because almost assuredly his family law attorney would have said not to do that. 

When you're taking a look at it from what happens once you're charged, obviously get an attorney right away. Tell your attorney everything that you know about it. We wouldn't have necessarily found out so quickly that the judge had not, found probable cause in the family law case that to find that this had been a stalking related incident. 

Because he had a clear head, was taking notes, consulted with his family law attorney, he gave us a great bit of information. Everything always matters. Tell your attorney everything and always keep your attorney in the loop of what's going on.