In order to be charged with Menacing in Weld, Morgan and Logan County (C.R.S.18-3-206), you would think that a person would have to be quite intimidating. This is not always true. In a recent case in Greeley, Colorado, a 76-year-old woman has been convicted of felony menacing. This woman is not an intimidating person – in fact, she is in a wheelchair. How did she get charged? According to news sources, the woman was yelling at two girls who were making chalk drawings on the sidewalk next to her house. When the father confronted the woman, she pulled out her pellet gun and aimed it at him. The man thought it was a real handgun and took cover behind his car before calling the police.
What is Felony Menacing in Greeley?
Menacing is charged when: “By any threat or physical action, he or she knowingly places or attempts to place another person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury.”
Normally, menacing is a class 3 misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to 6 months in the Weld County jail. But, menacing is a class 5 felony if a person uses a “deadly weapon or any article used or fashioned in a manner to cause a person to reasonably believe that the article is a deadly weapon,” or if the person “represent[s] verbally or otherwise that he or she is armed with a deadly weapon.”
Because the Greeley woman threatened the man with something that looked like a gun (she led the man to “reasonably believe” that it was a real handgun), she has been charged with felony menacing in Greeley. If you are convicted of felony menacing in Weld, Larimer or Broomfield County, you will face 1-3 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Menacing: You Will Be Charged if You Scare Someone
You will be charged with menacing if you place a person in fear of bodily injury. Actually placing someone is a situation where they could be hurt is one thing, but you will be charged if they simply believe that they are in danger. The case with the Greeley woman illustrates this perfectly. She pointed a pellet gun at the man. Because the man believed it was a real gun, she most likely will be convicted and face county jail, prison or probation. This fear doesn’t have to be rational in order for you to be arrested by Greeley, Fort Lupton or Johnstown police.
If you or a loved one has been arrested for menacing in Weld, Morgan or Logan County, be smart, exercise your right to remain silent, and contact an experienced criminal defense attorney at the O’Malley Law Office at 970-616-6009, or submit the “Get Help Now” form. Together, we can protect your future.
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