Colorado Vehicular Homicide Lawyer

No charge in Colorado carries more weight, or more grief on every side, than vehicular homicide. When a crash takes a life, prosecutors move fast and aggressively — and the person behind the wheel can face a decade or more in prison even when there was never any intent to hurt anyone.

At Mile High Legal, our vehicular homicide attorneys represent drivers across Denver and throughout Colorado facing these life-altering charges. Grant Grosgebauer spent years prosecuting felony cases, including fatal crashes, before moving to defense — that insider knowledge of how the state builds a vehicular homicide case is exactly what we put to work for our clients.

What Is Vehicular Homicide Under Colorado Law

Vehicular homicide, codified at C.R.S. § 18-3-106, applies when a person operates a motor vehicle in a manner that causes the death of another person. As with vehicular assault, Colorado recognizes two distinct paths to this charge:

• DUI-related vehicular homicide — the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or had a BAC of 0.08 or higher, at the time of the fatal crash. Impairment alone, combined with a resulting death, is enough for this version — recklessness does not need to be separately proven.
• Reckless vehicular homicide — the driver was not necessarily impaired but operated the vehicle with conscious disregard for a known, substantial risk, resulting in a fatal crash.

Why These Cases Move Quickly

Fatal crash investigations often begin within hours, with accident reconstruction teams, toxicology requests, and black-box data pulls from the vehicle itself. Evidence can be lost or recollections can change quickly, which is why speaking with a vehicular homicide lawyer immediately — before any statements are made to investigators — matters so much in these cases.

Potential Penalties

DUI-related vehicular homicide is generally charged as a class 3 felony, among the most serious felony classes short of a crime of violence, while reckless vehicular homicide is typically a class 4 felony. A conviction can carry a lengthy prison sentence, extended parole, substantial fines, and a permanent felony record.

Important law change effective September 1, 2026: under SB26-072, Colorado added a new subsection to the criminally negligent homicide statute, C.R.S. § 18-3-105(1)(b), which now specifically covers proximately causing the death of another person while operating or driving a motor vehicle with criminal negligence — a class 5 felony. This closes what had been a significant gap: before this change, a fatal crash caused by ordinary negligence (short of recklessness or DUI) was often charged only as a class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense (careless driving resulting in death), which SB26-072 repealed. As a result, drivers involved in fatal accidents now face felony exposure in circumstances that previously carried, at most, a misdemeanor traffic citation.

Important Points From Colorado’s Model Jury Instructions

• The DUI-prong charge is a strict liability crime. Vehicular homicide under the influence (C.R.S. § 18-3-106(1)(b)(I)) is a strict liability offense under Colorado’s model jury instructions — no culpable mental state beyond the voluntary act needs to be proven, and self-defense is not available as a defense to this version of the charge. (COLJI-Crim G1:02, Comment 3.)
• Reckless vehicular homicide has lesser-included offenses. The Colorado Court of Appeals has held that both reckless manslaughter and careless driving resulting in death are lesser included offenses of reckless vehicular homicide — meaning a jury (or a plea negotiation) may have a middle-ground option between an outright acquittal and a full vehicular homicide conviction. (People v. Kirby, 2024 COA 20, ¶ 2, 549 P.3d 1055.)
• “Operate” and “drive” are broader than people assume. Colorado courts have held that “drive” means exercising actual physical control over a vehicle — which can include a person asleep or passed out behind the wheel with the keys in the ignition — while “operate” is broader still, covering causing the vehicle to function by direct personal effort. (People v. Stewart, 55 P.3d 107, 115 (Colo. 2002); COLJI-Crim 3-1:13, Comment 3.)
• A driving death can still be charged as murder. Colorado’s vehicular homicide statute does not preclude prosecutors from charging a driving-related death under the general murder statutes instead, in sufficiently egregious cases. (People v. Tarr, 2022 COA 23, ¶ 49, 511 P.3d 672, rev’d on other grounds, 2024 CO 37, 549 P.3d 966.)

Common Defenses to Vehicular Homicide Charges

• Challenging causation — showing another driver, a road defect, a mechanical failure, or the victim’s own actions caused or contributed to the fatal crash.
• Attacking the DUI evidence — contesting the traffic stop, field sobriety testing, breath or blood test procedures, or chain of custody in DUI-related cases.
• Disputing recklessness — arguing the driving, while tragic, does not meet the conscious-disregard standard the reckless version of the statute requires.
• Accident reconstruction review — independently analyzing speed, braking, sightlines, and black-box data rather than accepting the state’s reconstruction at face value.

Why Choose Mile High Legal

These are among the highest-stakes cases a person can face, and they deserve an attorney who has sat on both sides of the table. We move immediately to preserve evidence, independently review the crash reconstruction, and build the strongest possible defense from day one.