Colorado’s harassment statute, CRS § 18-9-111, covers a wide range of conduct — from repeated unwanted contact to physical touching meant to alarm or annoy someone. The penalties vary significantly depending on exactly which subsection you’re accused of violating, which is why it matters to understand which tier of the statute applies to your case. Colorado’s jury instructions confirm the elements and classification of each subsection (COLJI-Crim 9-1:33 through 9-1:41.INT), and part of the statute has in fact been successfully challenged in court: the Colorado Supreme Court struck the word “harass” from the communication subsection as unconstitutionally overbroad because it swept in too much protected speech (People v. Moreno, 2022 CO 15, ¶¶ 25, 27 n.5, 506 P.3d 849), so that subsection now only reaches communications intended to threaten bodily injury or property damage, not merely ones intended to “harass.”
What counts as harassment under Colorado law?
Under CRS § 18-9-111(1), harassment covers several distinct subsections: striking, shoving, kicking, or otherwise subjecting someone to unwanted physical contact (subsection (a)); directing obscene language or gestures at someone in public (subsection (b)); following a person in or about a public place (subsection (c)); initiating electronic communication intended to threaten bodily injury or property damage, or making an obscene electronic comment (subsection (e)); repeatedly calling or causing a phone to ring with no legitimate purpose (subsection (f)); repeated communications at inconvenient hours that invade someone’s privacy at home (subsection (g)); repeated insults, taunts, or offensively coarse language likely to provoke a violent response (subsection (h)); and interfering with a transit worker on duty (subsection (i)). The specific subsection alleged determines which penalty tier applies.
What are the penalties for harassment in Colorado?
Penalties depend on which subsection applies, confirmed directly against the statutory text (CRS § 18-9-111(2)): obscene language or gestures in public (subsection (b)) is a petty offense; electronic-communication, telephone, repeated-communication, and provocation harassment (subsections (e), (f), (g), and (h)) are each a class 2 misdemeanor; and harassment by physical contact, by following someone in public, or by interfering with a transit worker (subsections (a), (c), and (i)) is always a class 1 misdemeanor — Colorado’s most serious misdemeanor level — regardless of whether bias was involved.
Is harassment a felony or a misdemeanor in Colorado?
Harassment under CRS § 18-9-111 is a misdemeanor or petty offense — it is not charged as a felony on its own, and the Colorado Supreme Court has held it isn’t even a lesser included offense of stalking (Pellegrin v. People, 2023 CO 37, ¶ 2, 532 P.3d 1224) or of second- or third-degree assault (People v. Wade, 2024 COA 13, ¶¶ 30–32, 548 P.3d 1164). However, a harassment allegation can sometimes accompany more serious felony charges, such as stalking or domestic-violence-related offenses, and prior convictions can affect how prosecutors approach a case.
Does bias motivation increase the penalty?
It can — but only for certain subsections. If the harassment was motivated, in whole or in part, by a victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity (CRS § 18-9-111(2); COLJI-Crim 9-1:41.INT), a conviction under the communication, telephone, repeated-communication, or provocation subsections is elevated to a class 1 misdemeanor. The physical-contact, following, and transit-worker subsections are already a class 1 misdemeanor regardless of bias, so the bias enhancement doesn’t change their classification.
Can a Colorado harassment charge be dismissed or dropped?
Harassment charges can sometimes be dismissed or reduced — particularly where the alleged conduct is disputed, where there’s no independent corroboration, or where free-speech protections apply to the specific words or actions at issue. Colorado courts have taken First Amendment challenges to this statute seriously before: beyond the Moreno decision discussed above, the Colorado Supreme Court struck down an earlier version of the statute’s catch-all “annoy or alarm” language as overbroad when applied to communications generally (Bolles v. People, 541 P.2d 80, 82–83 (Colo. 1975)), and self-defense can be a valid affirmative defense where there’s credible evidence the defendant acted to protect themselves rather than with intent to alarm (Pearson v. People, 2022 CO 4, ¶ 1, 502 P.3d 1003). No outcome can be promised in any individual case; results depend entirely on the specific facts and evidence involved.
Talk to a Denver criminal defense attorney
If you’ve been charged with harassment in Colorado, the specific conduct alleged and the circumstances surrounding it matter a great deal to how the case is handled. Contact Mile High Legal for a consultation to discuss your situation.
