Legislation making its way through the Colorado legislature would expand protections of the state’s witness intimidation law.

The House Judiciary Committee advanced the bill on Wednesday after the Senate unanimously passed the measure earlier this month. 

If enacted, Senate Bill 24 would expand the law to cover intimidation that influences a person to withhold information or provide false information to law enforcement, a defense attorney or a defense investigator. Currently, the law is limited to intimidation that influences testimony in court, meaning a witness or victim is not protected until after they’ve reported the crime.

“This bill idea came from our office after years of frustration about the gaps that occurred with protecting victims and witnesses before the case comes to our office,” said District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin. “More and more, we are seeing these threats and intimidation going on prior to any contact with law enforcement.”

Just last month, McLaughlin said his office received a domestic violence case in which an offender assaulted a victim and told her, “If you report this to the police, I will kill you.” While the victim later went to the police after the offender fired a gun at her, McLaughlin said his office could not pursue charges for victim or witness intimidation because it happened before the legal process began.

“We can’t do anything to protect those victims or deter that,” McLaughlin said. “For at least a time, he succeeded in getting her to not go to law enforcement, to suppress that victim’s rights and to put that victim in continued danger.”

McLaughlin said these intimidation tactics are common in domestic violence cases, as well as in organized crime and gang-affiliated crime. McLaughlin said he’s had cases with years’ worth of evidence of intimidation via emails, text messages and social media interactions, but they cannot do anything about it.

The bipartisan bill – sponsored in the House by Eagle Democrat Rep. Dylan Roberts and Delta Republican Rep. Matt Soper – has so far received no opposition.

“If we have perpetrators out there who are able to intimidate someone who could become a witness or is a witness, that frustrates law. It means that justice can’t play out,” Soper said. “We’ve never tolerated this in our society, and we should continue to evolve the law as new scenarios come out.”

Current law already criminalizes the intimidation of a victim or witness to a legal proceeding, but the legislation would also explicitly cover intimidation of any person who may have information relevant to a criminal investigation, as well as any person who is believed to be able to influence a victim or witness. 

Intimidating a witness is a Class 4 felony in Colorado, carrying a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a fine of $500,000. From 2018 to 2021, 108 people were convicted and sentenced for intimidating a witness in Colorado, according to state data.

Bill sponsors said they expect the bill would result in a minimal increase in convictions.