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question iconMy ex husband was charged with a felony assault charge in 2017 for strangling me. It was dropped to a misdemeanor and the record was recently sealed. Prior to the sealing of his 2017 record, he strangled his girlfriend in 9/2020 and was re-arrested and charged with another felony assault. He is taking this second felony arrest to trial. Can the DA “unseal” the 2017 felony assault record to be presented in this newest case involving the girlfriend? Seems insane to me that a man can almost kill two women, but because he got the first record sealed the court would ignore it? Please tell me I’ve been misinformed.
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Generally speaking, prior bad acts of someone cannot be used to show conformity with current alleged bad behavior. However, Colorado case law is clear that prosecutors can use prior incidents of alleged domestic violence in an effort to show a pattern. They would, however, have to go through a hearing in which a court would need to determine the admissibility (essentially, would the prejudice outweigh the probative value). Probably the biggest issue here would be that there are two different victims (thus making the pattern argument harder). This process is the only way that the prior incident can be brought in...the DA unfortunately cannot just bring it into evidence without filing the motion and winning the hearing.


The foregoing information is general information only and should not be relied upon to take, or fail to take, legal action. No attorney-client relationship is formed by this information. __The only manner to obtain complete and adequate legal advice is to consult with an attorney.__
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Bill Henry
Criminal DefenseJan 14, 2021
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