By Emma Mclean-Riggs, Senior Staff Attorney
The ACLU of Colorado litigated to stop the city of Pueblo from unlawfully jailing people for hundreds of days without constitutionally required charging documents. Under the purported crime of “contempt of court” — charges for missing court dates — petty offenses like loitering and trespass that carried no jail time on their own could spiral into lengthy sentences. The city of Pueblo threatened up to 364 days in jail for each alleged charge of “contempt,” often stacking the counts and leading to potentially years in jail for a single missed court date. Unhoused people, people with disabilities, and people living in extreme poverty were disproportionately targeted by these charges.
We entered appearances in 25 different cases in Municipal Court and ultimately filed habeas petitions in district court on behalf of Dean Lopez, Lyrcis Martinez, Michael Tafoya, and Christie Thorpe, all of whom were still incarcerated. Each had been sentenced to hundreds of days in jail for missing court dates without receiving constitutionally required charging documents.
