District of Colorado

What the District of Colorado is

The District of Colorado is the federal trial court for the entire state. It sits within the wider federal court system, and its structure comes from one short sentence in 28 U.S.C. § 85: "Colorado constitutes one judicial district." There are no statutory divisions and no counties listed in the statute. An arrest in Denver, Aurora, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Grand Junction, Durango or a mountain county that becomes a federal case is charged here.

Federal district courts hold the power to try federal crimes. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3231, they have "original jurisdiction, exclusive of the courts of the States, of all offenses against the laws of the United States." That is why a drug, firearms, fraud or child exploitation case that crosses the federal line is not heard in a state courthouse.

The state has features that shape the docket. According to the United States Attorney's Office, federal lands make up about one third of Colorado, including national parks, monuments and forests. The state also has major military installations, two Indian reservations, a large federal prison presence in Florence and Englewood, and two interstate highways running through it. Cases from those settings can carry federal charges that would be state matters elsewhere.

Where court is held and how counties fit

The statute says where the court may sit: "Court shall be held at Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Durango, Grand Junction, Montrose, Pueblo, and Sterling." That is eight places. The court's own location pages, though, list courthouses in only four: Denver, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Durango. Whether Boulder, Montrose, Pueblo and Sterling are used for criminal proceedings is not something the court's location pages show.

The court does not publish a rule that assigns each county to a courthouse for criminal cases. The papers in your case, meaning the summons, indictment, notice of hearing or release order, name the courthouse you must go to. Rely on those and not on a map.

The only official county lists are in the court's Jury Plan. The plan divides the district into four jury divisions. Those divisions decide where jurors are drawn from. They do not decide where a case must be heard. The counties are:

• Jury Division One (Denver), 24 counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Chaffee, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Gilpin, Grand, Jackson, Jefferson, Lake, Larimer, Logan, Morgan, Park, Phillips, Sedgwick, Summit, Washington, Weld and Yuma.
• Jury Division Two (Durango), 9 counties: Archuleta, Dolores, Hinsdale, La Plata, Mineral, Montezuma, Rio Grande, San Juan and San Miguel.
• Jury Division Three (Grand Junction), 11 counties: Delta, Eagle, Garfield, Gunnison, Mesa, Moffat, Montrose, Ouray, Pitkin, Rio Blanco and Routt.
• Jury Division Four (Pueblo), 20 counties: Alamosa, Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Conejos, Costilla, Crowley, Custer, El Paso, Fremont, Huerfano, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Las Animas, Lincoln, Otero, Prowers, Pueblo, Saguache and Teller.

That adds up to all 64 counties. A grand jury is not tied to one division either. The plan says grand juries "drawn from one division, a combination of divisions or all divisions may indict for any offense in any division of the district."

Two local rules touch on location. Local Rule 50.1(c)(6) lets a majority of the district judges provide for the assignment of criminal cases that may be heard outside Denver in another place where court may be held under § 85. Local Rule 11.1(b) refers to a felony case "designated as a Durango or Grand Junction case." If your case carries that designation, it affects where and before whom a plea may be taken.

The courthouses and the Clerk's Office

The court lists these locations:

• Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse, 901 19th Street, Denver, CO 80294.
• Byron G. Rogers Courthouse, 1929 Stout Street, Denver, CO 80294.
• Colorado Springs, 212 N. Wahsatch Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO 80903.
• Wayne Aspinall Courthouse, Grand Junction, CO 81501, Suite 309. The locations page prints 400 Rood Avenue, while the court's footer and contact page print 402 Rood Avenue. Confirm the street number with the Clerk's Office before you travel.
• La Plata County Courthouse, 1060 E. 2nd Avenue, Suite 150, Durango, CO 81301.

The court's listed hours are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. The Denver Clerk's Office is closed to the public from 8:00 to 9:00 AM on the first Thursday of each month for an all staff meeting.

The Clerk's Office is in the Arraj Courthouse, Room A105, 901 19th Street, Denver, CO 80294-3589. The intake line is (303) 844-3433, Option 0. The branch offices are Colorado Springs at (719) 471-3387, Grand Junction at (970) 245-5396 and Durango at (970) 385-9564. Under Local Rule 56.1, electronic filings are due no later than 11:59:59 p.m. Mountain Time on the day required, and other filings are due during clerk's hours.

Who prosecutes: the United States Attorney's Office

Federal crimes in Colorado are prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado. Its Criminal Division is "responsible for prosecuting all violations of criminal federal law occurring within the State and District of Colorado," with about 45 criminal Assistant United States Attorneys. The office has five divisions: Criminal, Civil, Appellate, Asset Recovery and Administrative. The main office is at 1801 California Street, Suite 1600, Denver, telephone (303) 454-0100. Branch offices are in Durango, at 835 E 2nd Avenue, Suite 410, and Grand Junction, at 205 North 4th Street, Suite 400.

The Denver office is organized by subject, and the section handling your case says something about how the government sees it:

• The Economic Crime Section prosecutes theft of government funds, wire, mail, bank and securities fraud, and health care fraud, along with public corruption, aggravated identity theft and pandemic loan fraud. See our pages on federal fraud charges and health care fraud.
• The Violent Crime Section handles gang crimes, bank robberies, gun crimes, carjackings, immigration offenses and crimes on federal land. See federal firearms charges.
• The Transnational Organized Crime and Money Laundering Section handles large scale narcotics and money laundering cases tied to cartels, overdose death cases and prosecutions of doctors and pharmacists who distribute controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice. See federal drug trafficking charges.
• The Cybercrime and National Security Section handles computer hacking, trade secret theft, darknet and digital currency crimes, child exploitation and terrorism. See federal sex crimes.

A separate Western Slope Section covers the Grand Junction and Durango offices. It handles violent crime, firearms, narcotics, fraud and public lands offenses in western Colorado, including Mesa Verde National Park and other federal enclaves. The Durango branch has primary responsibility for federal prosecutions arising on the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Reservations. The main office handles offenses on the Front Range, east of the continental divide.

Appointed lawyers: the Federal Public Defender and the CJA panel

If you cannot afford a lawyer, the court can appoint one. The Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Colorado says its representation begins when the court appoints it under the Criminal Justice Act. Its Denver office is at 633 17th Street, Suite 1000, Denver, CO 80202, telephone 303-294-7002, open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays. The office is a short walk from the Arraj and Rogers courthouses. No Federal Public Defender office outside Denver was confirmed.

The Criminal Justice Act also created a panel of private criminal defense attorneys, described by the Federal Public Defender as practitioners from Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Grand Junction and Durango. Panel lawyers take appointed cases when the Federal Public Defender cannot, for example because of a conflict. You do not choose between them. The court makes the appointment, usually at your first appearance after you complete a financial affidavit.

Pretrial Services and Probation

The Colorado Probation Office runs Pretrial Services. Its materials say the Pretrial Services officer "is normally the first contact a defendant has with the Probation Office." The officer interviews you before your initial appearance before the magistrate judge and recommends "the most effective and least restrictive conditions of release." Listed conditions include supervision by the Probation Office and limits on travel and employment, substance abuse and mental health treatment, firearm possession and location monitoring.

Be accurate in that interview. What you say about your residence, work and family can come back at the detention hearing. Do not discuss the facts of the charge with the officer, and ask your lawyer or the Federal Public Defender to be present if possible.

After a plea or verdict, a probation officer interviews you for the presentence report, which sets out sentencing options and carries a recommendation to the court. Our page on the presentence report explains it. Probation offices are in Denver at the Byron Rogers Courthouse, 1929 Stout Street, Suite C-120, telephone (303) 844-5424, and in Colorado Springs, Durango and Grand Junction. Under Local Rule 32.1(f), probation records and presentence reports are confidential and not open to public inspection.

The first days of a federal case

After an arrest, you appear before a magistrate judge for an initial appearance. The judge tells you the charge, addresses counsel and considers release. If the government asks for detention, a detention hearing follows under 18 U.S.C. § 3142. Detention before trial requires a finding that "no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the person as required and the safety of any other person and the community." Our detention hearing page covers how these hearings run. Start gathering proof of residence, employment, family ties and any treatment history right away.

Felony charges usually come by indictment from a grand jury. Local Rule 6.1 provides that grand jury supervision is assigned equally among the active district judges. If you are told you are a subject or target, see grand jury and target letter. Arraignment follows, where you enter a plea.

The court's Speedy Trial Act plan says an indictment or information must be filed "within 30 days of arrest or service." Trial must begin "not later than 70 days after the last to occur of" the filing of the indictment or information, its unsealing, or the defendant's first appearance before a judicial officer of the district. Certain delays can be excluded under the Act, so the real trial date is often later. Under Local Rule 50.1, criminal cases are assigned by random draw, with an exception that sends a new single defendant felony case to the same district judge if the defendant already has another pending felony or is on probation or supervised release.

Local criminal rules that change what you do

The criminal local rules are cited in the form D.C.COLO.LCrR followed by the rule number, for example D.C.COLO.LCrR 47.1(f)(1)(A). The current rules took effect December 1, 2025, and under Rule 1.1(b) the rules are effective each December 1 unless stated otherwise. Rules that most often matter:

• Rule 11.1, pleas. Unless otherwise ordered, notice of disposition must be filed no later than 14 days before trial. A plea agreement is signed by the government, defense counsel and the defendant, and a copy goes to chambers and the Probation Office no later than 48 hours before the change of plea hearing. In a felony case designated as a Durango or Grand Junction case, with written consent, the resident magistrate judge may take the plea. The court has also issued General Order 2026-2, which consolidates the plea forms into one Plea Agreement and Acknowledgements form, so ask which form applies.
• Rule 17.1.1, pretrial conference. A magistrate judge enters a Discovery Conference Memorandum and Order at the time of or within 14 days after arraignment. Counsel then obtain motion deadlines and a trial date from the assigned district judge.
• Rules 12.1 and 12.2, motions. A party may not file a motion to join another party's motion, and a motion cannot be tucked into a response or reply.
• Rule 32.1, sentencing. The government files a sentencing statement within 30 days after a guilty verdict, and the defendant may respond within 14 days after that. Objections to the presentence report cannot be combined with a motion for departure or variance. A motion for departure or variance is due 14 days before sentencing, with a response seven days before. Letters and other documents about you go to the probation office 10 days before sentencing. See federal sentencing.
• Rule 47.1, restricted documents. The rule sets four levels of restriction, and a motion to restrict must address why the interest outweighs the presumption of public access.
• Rule 24.1, jurors. No party or attorney may communicate with a juror or prospective juror before, during or after a trial without an order of the assigned judicial officer.

These rules sit beside the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the assigned judge's own practice requirements. Read all three early.

Appeals go to the Tenth Circuit

Appeals from the District of Colorado are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1294(1), appeals go "From a district court of the United States to the court of appeals for the circuit embracing the district;" and the circuit table places Colorado in the Tenth Circuit with Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.

The deadline is short. Under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(b)(1)(A), a defendant's notice of appeal in a criminal case must be filed in the district court within 14 days after the later of the entry of the judgment or order being appealed, or the filing of the government's notice of appeal. Our federal appeals page explains the process. Talk about appeal rights before sentencing, because the clock runs from entry of judgment.

A note on penalties

Penalty figures on this site are statutory maximums or guideline ranges. They are not predictions for any case. Drug quantity, loss amount, criminal history and the facts of the offense all change the real number. Some charges also carry mandatory minimum sentences, which are set by statute.

Talking to a lawyer about a case in this court

A first conversation goes further when you bring paper. Gather the following before you call:

• Any charging document, summons, subpoena, target letter or release order, and the case number if you have one.
• The name of the courthouse and the date and time of your next hearing, as printed in your papers.
• Any bond or release conditions and the name of your Pretrial Services officer.
• Search warrant paperwork or property receipts, if agents searched your home, car or phone. See search warrants.
• A short timeline of what happened, written for your lawyer only.
• Proof of residence, employment, family ties and any treatment history, which matter at a detention hearing.

Do not discuss the case with agents, co defendants or friends, and do not agree to a proffer session before you have spoken with counsel. If you already have an appointed lawyer, say so when you call. To describe your situation, request a consultation.

Federal representation outside California is subject to applicable court admission requirements. Pro hac vice admission and association with local counsel may be required.