Justifications and Exemptions for Criminal Responsibility - 3.16

This Chapter shall be applicable to all criminal offenses defined in Title 3 Municipal Court as well as any other offenses prosecuted in the municipal court.

1. A Unless inconsistent with any other provisions of this Chapter defining justifiable use of physical force, or with some other provisions of law, conduct which would otherwise constitute an offense is justifiable and not criminal when it is required or authorized by law or a judicial decree binding in the Town.
2. A “provision of law” and a “judicial decree” in subsection A of this section mean laws defining duties and functions of public servants, laws defining duties of private citizens to assist public servants in the performance of certain of their functions, laws governing the execution of legal process, laws governing the military service and conduct of war, and judgments and orders of the court.

Unless inconsistent with other provisions of this Chapter defining justifiable use of physical force, or with some other provision of law, conduct which would otherwise constitute an offense is justifiable and not criminal when it is necessary as an emergency measure to avoid an imminent public or private injury which is about to occur by reason of a situation occasioned or developed through no conduct of the actor, and which is sufficient gravity that, according to ordinary standards of intelligence and morality, the desirability and urgency of avoiding the injury clearly outweigh the desirability of avoiding the injury sought to be avoided by the law defining the offense in issue.

The use of physical force upon another person, which would otherwise constitute an offense, is justifiable and not criminal under any of the following circumstances:

1. A parent, guardian, or other person entrusted with the care and supervision of a minor or an incompetent person and a teacher or other person entrusted with the care and supervision of a minor, may use reasonable and appropriate physical force upon the minor or incompetent person when and to the extent it is reasonably necessary and appropriate to maintain discipline or promote the welfare of the minor or incompetent person;
2. A person acting under a reasonable belief that another person is about to commit suicide or to inflict serious bodily injury upon himself may use reasonable and appropriate physical force upon that person to the extent that it is reasonably necessary to thwart the result;
3. A duly licensed physician, or a person acting under his direction, may use reasonable and appropriate physical force for the purpose of administering a recognized form of treatment which he reasonably believes to be adapted to promoting the physical or mental health of the patient if:
   1. the treatment is administered with the consent of the patient, or, if the patient is a minor or an incompetent person, with the consent of his patient, guardian or other person entrusted with his care and supervision; or
   2. the treatment is administered in an emergency when the physician reasonably believes that no one competent to consent can be consulted and that a reasonable person wishing to safeguard the welfare of the patient would consent.

A person may not be convicted of an offense based upon conduct which he engaged at the direction of another person because of the use or threatened unlawful use of force upon him or another person, which force or threatened use thereof a reasonable person in this situation would have been unable to resist. The defense is not available when a person intentionally or recklessly places himself in a situation in which it is foreseeable that he will be subjected to such force or threatened use thereof. The choice of evils defense provided in this Chapter shall not be available to a defendant in addition to the defense of duress provided in this Chapter unless separate facts exist which warrants its application.

1. Except as provided in subsections B and C of this Section, a person is justified in using physical force upon another person in order to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of physical force by that other person, and he may use a degree of force which he reasonably believes to be necessary for that purpose.
2. Deadly physical force may be used only if a person reasonably believes a lesser degree of force is inadequate and
   1. The actor has reasonable grounds to believe, and does believe, that he or another person is in imminent danger of being killed or of receiving great bodily injury;
   2. The other person is using or reasonably appears about to use physical force against the an occupant of a dwelling or business establishment while committing or attempting to commit burglary as defined in sections 18-4-202 to 18-4-204 C.R.S.; or
   3.   The other person is committing or reasonably appears about to commit kidnapping as defined in section 18-3-301 or 18-3-302 C.R.S., robbery as defined in section 18-4-301 or 18-4-302, sexual assault as set forth in section 18-3-402 or in section 18-3-4-3 as it existed prior to July 1, 2000, or assault as defined in sections 18-3-2-2 and 18-3-203 C.R.S.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A of this section, a person is not justified in using physical force if:
   1. With intent to cause bodily injury or death to another person, he provokes the use of unlawful physical force by that other person,
   2. He is the initial aggressor; except that his use of physical force upon another person under the circumstances is justifiable if he withdraws from the encounter and effectively communicates to the other person his intent to do so, but the latter nevertheless continues or threatens the use of unlawful physical force; or
   3. The physical force involved is the product of a combat by agreement not specifically authorized by law.

A person in possession or control of any building, realty, or other premises, or a person who is licensed or privileged to be thereon, is justified in using reasonable and appropriate physical force upon another person when and to the extent that it is reasonably necessary to prevent or terminate what he reasonably believes to be the commission or attempted commission of an unlawful trespass by the other person in or upon the building, realty, or premises. However, he may use deadly force only in defense of himself or another described in section 18-1-704 C.R.S, or when he reasonably believes it necessary to prevent what he reasonably believes to be an attempt by the trespasser to commit first-degree arson.

A person is justified in using reasonable and appropriate physical force upon another person when and to the extent that he reasonably believes it necessary to prevent what he reasonably believes to be an attempt by the other person to commit theft, criminal mischief, or criminal tampering involving property, but he may use deadly physical force under these circumstances only in defense of himself or another as described in section 18-1-704 C.R.S.

The commission of acts which would otherwise constitute an offense is not criminal if the defendant engaged in the proscribed conduct because he was induced to do so by a law enforcement official or other person acting under his direction, seeking to obtain evidence for the purpose of prosecution, and the methods used to obtain that evidence were such as to create a substantial risk that the acts would be committed by a person who, but for some inducement, would not have conceived of or engaged in conduct of the sort induced. Merely affording a person an opportunity to commit an offense is not entrapment even though representations or inducements calculated to overcome the defendant’s fear of detection are used.

1. Except as provided in subsection B of this Section, a peace officer is justified in using reasonable and appropriate physical force upon another person when and to the extent that he believes it necessary
   1. To effect an arrest or to prevent the escape from custody of an arrested person unless he knows that the arrest is unauthorized; or
   2. To defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of physical force while effecting or attempting to effect such an arrest or while preventing or attempting to prevent such an escape.
2. A peace officer is justified in using deadly ph mystical force upon another person for a purpose specified in subsection A of this Section only when he believes that it is necessary 1. to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of deadly physical force, or 2. to effect an arrest, or to prevent the escape from custody, of a person whom he reasonably believes has committed or attempted to commit a felony involving the use or threatened use of a deadly weapon, or is attempting to escape by the use of a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates, except through a motor vehicle violation, that he is likely to endanger human life or to inflict serious bodily injury to another unless apprehended without delay.
3. Nothing in subsection B. 2. of this Section shall be deemed to constitute justification for reckless or criminally negligent conduct by a peace officer amounting to an offense against or with respect to innocent persons whom he is not seeking to arrest or retain in custody.
4. For purposes of this Section, a reasonable belief that a person has committed an offense means a reasonable belief in facts or circumstances which if true would in law constitute an offense. If the believed facts or circumstances would not in law constitute an offense, an erroneous though not unreasonable belief that the law is otherwise does not render justifiable the use of force to make an arrest or to prevent an escape from custody. a peace officer who is affecting an arrest pursuant to a warrant is justified in using the physical force prescribed in subsections A and B of this Section unless the warrant is invalid and is known by the officer to be invalid.
5. Except as provided in subsection F of this Section, a person who has been directed by a peace officer to assist him to effect an arrest or to prevent the escape from custody is justified in using reasonable and appropriate physical force when and to the extent that he reasonably believes that force to be necessary to carry out the peace officer’s direction, unless he knows that the arrest or prospective arrest in not authorized.
6. A person who has been directed to assist a peace officer under circumstances specified in subsection D of this Section may use deadly physical force to effect an arrest or to prevent an escape only when:
   1. He reasonably believes that force to be necessary to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use of imminent use of deadly physical force or
   2. He is directed or authorized by the peace officer to use deadly physical force and does not know, if that happens to be the case, that the peace officer himself is not authorized to use deadly physical force under the circumstances.
7. A private person acting on his own account is justified in using reasonable and appropriate physical force upon another person when and to the extent that he reasonably believes it necessary to effect an arrest, or to prevent the escape from custody of an arrested person who has committed an offense in his presence; but he is justified in using deadly physical force for the purpose only when he reasonably believes it necessary to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of deadly physical force.
8. A guard or peace officer employed in a detention facility is justified:
   1. In using deadly physical force when he reasonably believes it necessary to prevent the escape of a prisoner convicted of, charged with, or held for a felony or confined under the maximum security rules of any detention facility as such facility is defined in subsection I of this section; or
   2. In using reasonable and appropriate physical force, but not deadly physical force, in all other circumstances when and to the extent that he reasonably believes it necessary to prevent what he reasonably believes to be the escape of a prisoner from a detention facility.
9. “Detention facility” as used in subsection H of this Section means any place maintained for the confinement, pursuant to law, of persons charged with or convicted of an offense, held pursuant to the “Colorado Children’s Code”, held for extradition, or otherwise confined pursuant to an order of a court.