“Harassment” Laws & Penalties in Colorado – C.R.S. § 18-9-111

Harassment in Colorado means committing one of the acts listed in C.R.S. 18-9-111 with the intent to harass, annoy, or alarm another person. Harassment can be a petty offense, class 2 misdemeanor, or class 1 misdemeanor depending on the charge.

Examples:

• Shoving someone,
• Following someone in public, or
• Making certain threatening or repeated unwanted communications.

Being rude or upsetting someone does not, by itself, prove criminal harassment.

Defenses:

• Lack of intent,
• Mistaken identity,
• Protected speech, or
• Lawful self-defense 

Other Key Rules:

• One incident can be enough: Some forms of harassment, such as shoving someone with the required intent, do not require repeated behavior.
• Texts and calls can qualify: Threats, legally obscene communications, and certain repeated calls or messages can lead to charges. 
• Domestic violence changes the case: Harassment involving an intimate partner can trigger mandatory arrest rules, protection orders, and treatment requirements.¹

Our approach in harassment cases is to look beyond the accusation: What actually happened? What does the full conversation show? And can the prosecution prove the particular offense it charged? A heated argument should not become a criminal conviction simply because someone calls it harassment.

In this article, our Denver criminal defense attorneys address the following issues regarding Colorado harassment laws. 

• 1. Elements of C.R.S. 18-9-111
• 2. Penalties
• 3. Defenses
• 4. Statute of Limitations
• 5. Record Seals
• 6. Cyber-Harassment
• 7. Stalking
• 8. Workplace Harassment
• 9. Sexual Harassment
• 10. If You Are Accused
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Related Information
• Help for Victims

1. Elements of C.R.S. 18-9-111

To convict you under C.R.S. 18-9-111, Colorado prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you intended to harass, annoy, or alarm another person and committed at least one of these prohibited acts:

• Physical contact: Striking, shoving, kicking, or otherwise touching another person.
• Public obscenity: Directing legally obscene language or an obscene gesture at someone in a public place.
• Following: Following someone in or about a public place.
• Threatening or obscene communications: Certain telephone or electronic communications threatening bodily injury or property damage, or containing legally obscene material.
• Telephone harassment: Making a call or repeatedly causing a phone to ring without a purpose of legitimate conversation. The person does not have to answer.
• Repeated communications at inconvenient hours: Communications that invade someone’s privacy and interfere with the use and enjoyment of their home or other private property.
• Repeated provocation: Insults, taunts, challenges, or offensively coarse communications made in a manner likely to provoke a violent or disorderly response. First Amendment protections limit when words can be punished.
• Interference with a transit worker: Wrongfully interfering with a transit worker performing a lawful duty. (This provision took effect August 6, 2025.)

Note that a prosecutor cannot rely on the electronic communications provision’s broad phrase “intended to harass” as a stand-alone basis for conviction. In People v. Moreno, the Colorado Supreme Court held that phrase unconstitutional because it swept in protected speech.²

Harassment Examples

Conduct that may support a Colorado harassment charge includes:

• shoving a neighbor to alarm them,
• repeatedly calling someone through the night to disturb their sleep, or
• sending a serious threat to injure someone or damage their property.

Conduct that is not automatically harassment includes accidentally bumping someone, walking the same route as another person, writing a harsh review, or sending a message the recipient dislikes. The surrounding facts matter.

When reviewing a case, we focus on the exact subsection charged. Evidence that supports one form of harassment may not support another. For example, a screenshot of an angry message does not establish a pattern of late-night communications.

2. Penalties

Harassment under C.R.S. 18-9-111 is a petty offense or misdemeanor, not a felony, as the following table shows.³

Type of Harassment under C.R.S. 18-9-111	Colorado Punishment
Obscene language or gestures directed at someone in public, under subsection (1)(b)	Petty offense:  Up to 10 days in jail and/or $300 in fines
Communication offenses under subsections (1)(e), (f), (g), or (h), including qualifying threats, telephone calls, late-night communications, or repeated provocation	Class 2 misdemeanor:  Up to 120 days in jail and/or $750 in fines
Physical contact, following in public, or wrongful interference with a transit worker, under subsections (1)(a), (c), or (i)	Class 1 misdemeanor:  Up to 364 days in jail and/or $1,000 in fines
Any form of harassment committed with the bias-related intent specified in subsection (2)(a)	Class 1 misdemeanor:  Up to 364 days in jail and/or $1,000 in fines

The bias provision under C.R.S. 18-9-111(2)(a) applies when the offense is committed with intent to intimidate or harass someone, in whole or in part, because of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity.

Jail is possible, but it is not mandatory for every harassment conviction. Depending on eligibility and the facts, alternatives may include probation, diversion, or a deferred judgment. A sentence can also include costs and restitution.

What changes if the case involves domestic violence?

Harassment can be designated as domestic violence when it meets Colorado’s definition of abuse involving an intimate relationship. That includes current or former spouses, current or former unmarried couples, and parents of the same child.

Domestic violence is generally a designation attached to the underlying crime. It does not automatically increase the harassment offense level, but it has serious consequences:

• Arrest: Police must arrest when they have probable cause to believe a crime involving domestic violence occurred.
• Protection orders: The court imposes protective conditions. A no-contact provision can prevent you from returning home or communicating with your partner.
• Treatment: A conviction generally requires a domestic violence evaluation and treatment, subject to statutory exceptions.
• Firearms: Protection orders and qualifying convictions can restrict firearm possession.

Only the court can change a protection order. The protected person’s permission does not allow you to violate it.⁴

Our goal is to address both the charge and its practical consequences. Before discussing a plea, we look at what it would mean for your work, housing, contact with family, firearm rights, and ability to seal the record.

3. Defenses

Here at Colorado Legal Defense Group, we have represented countless people charged with harassment and related offenses. In our experience, the following six defenses have proven very effective with prosecutors, judges, and juries in getting C.R.S. 18-9-111 charges reduced or dismissed. 

1. No criminal intent: An accident or legitimate communication may undermine the claim that you meant to harass, annoy, or alarm anyone. 
2. False accusation or missing context: Complete messages, witness accounts, and recordings may contradict the complaint or change the meaning of a selected screenshot.
3. Mistaken identity: The prosecution must connect you to the conduct. An account name or phone number may not establish who sent a message.
4. The conduct does not meet the statute: For example, a charge based on repeated communications requires evidence of repetition and the other requirements of that subsection. If the D.A. cannot produce that evidence, the charge could be dismissed. 
5. Protected speech: Criticism, insults, and unpopular views are not automatically criminal. Therefore, your First Amendment protections can be central to a communications case.
6. Lawful self-defense: In Pearson v. People, the Colorado Supreme Court held that self defense can apply to physical contact harassment when credible evidence supports a finding that the defendant acted with intent to alarm as a means of self-defense.⁵

Note that “I never touched anyone” is not a defense to every harassment charge. Some offenses involve only communications. Likewise, an alleged victim’s privacy expectations matter to certain charges, but lack of privacy is not a blanket defense to the whole statute.

We build the defense around the evidence that can create reasonable doubt. That may mean preserving a full message thread, requesting surveillance footage before it is erased, or showing why the prosecution’s theory punishes protected speech.

4. Statute of Limitations

The general Colorado filing deadline is 18 months for misdemeanor harassment and six months for petty offense harassment. These are deadlines to begin prosecution, not deadlines to finish the trial.

Exceptions can change the calculation. For example, time outside Colorado may pause the clock. If an offense is based on a series of acts, the clock generally starts with the last act in the series.⁶

We compare the alleged dates with the charging documents before assuming a case is timely. Note that civil claims and workplace discrimination complaints have separate deadlines.

5. Record Seals

Many harassment records can be sealed in Colorado, but eligibility depends on the outcome and underlying facts. The following table spells out the applicable record seal wait times in general: 

Colorado Conviction	Usual Record Seal Waiting Period
Petty offense	1 year after the case ends
Class 2 misdemeanor	2 years after the case ends
Class 1 misdemeanor	3 years after the case ends

The clock runs from the later of the final disposition of the proceedings or your release from supervision, such as probation. Other requirements apply, including rules concerning later convictions and unpaid restitution.

Note that convictions whose underlying facts involve domestic violence are excluded from the ordinary sealing route. However, C.R.S. 24-72-706(2)(b) provides a possible exception for otherwise ineligible misdemeanors and petty offenses if the district attorney consents or the court makes the required findings by clear and convincing evidence. 

If your entire case is dismissed or you are acquitted of all charges, sealing is generally available without the conviction waiting periods. Colorado law now provides for court-initiated sealing of eligible nonconviction records.⁷

6. Cyber-Harassment

Certain calls, texts, and online communications can violate Colorado’s harassment law. C.R.S. 18-0-111(1)(e), known as Kiana Arellano’s Law, addresses telephone and electronic communications. 

Here are three things to know:

1. Annoying does not automatically mean criminal. The Moreno case struck the broad “intended to harass” language from the enforceable reach of subsection (1)(e). It did not invalidate the entire harassment statute.
2. “Obscene” has a narrow legal meaning. The statute concerns patently offensive descriptions of, or solicitations to engage in, specified sexual acts or excretory functions. Ordinary swearing is not automatically obscene.
3. Repeated communications can fall under other subsections. Calls without a purpose of legitimate conversation or repeated communications at inconvenient hours can support charges when all the relevant requirements are met, even without an obscene message or a threat.

Threat cases also have constitutional limits. In Counterman v. Colorado, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a prosecution based on true threats requires proof of at least recklessness about the threatening nature of the speech. In everyday terms, this means it is not enough that a reasonable recipient would feel threatened: The speaker must at least consciously disregard a substantial risk that the message will be understood as threatening violence.⁸

For a communications case, we want the full exchange, not just the most damaging sentence. Timing, context, who sent the message, and the relationship between the people can all affect how we craft a defense.

7. Stalking

Harassment under C.R.S. 18-9-111 is a petty offense or misdemeanor. Stalking under C.R.S. 18-3-602 is a felony. Stalking in Colorado generally involves either:

• A credible threat combined with repeated following, approaching, contacting, surveillance, or communications; or
• Repeated following, approaching, contacting, surveillance, or communications that would cause a reasonable person serious emotional distress and actually cause the required distress.

Stalking does not always require a threat. The serious emotional distress form is a separate route to conviction. The statute also covers certain conduct involving the person’s immediate family or someone with whom they have or had a continuing relationship.

A first stalking offense is generally a class 5 extraordinary risk felony with a presumptive prison range of one to four years. Certain repeat offenses and violations involving an existing court order are class 4 felonies; enhanced sentencing rules can also affect the sentence.⁹

When the allegations involve repeated contact, we examine whether the evidence actually establishes stalking, a lesser offense, or no crime. The label in a police report does not decide that question.

8. Workplace Harassment

Workplace harassment and criminal harassment have different legal requirements in Colorado.

A workplace discrimination claim generally concerns unwelcome conduct connected to a protected characteristic, such as race, disability, sex, or religion. Colorado’s POWR Act removed the requirement that harassment be severe or pervasive to qualify under state employment discrimination law. The conduct must still meet the state’s legal standard; ordinary workplace friction is not automatically unlawful discrimination.¹⁰

A workplace incident can also be a crime if it independently satisfies a criminal statute. For example, shoving a coworker with the required intent may support a harassment charge. An inappropriate joke does not automatically establish criminal harassment.

If your employer is investigating you, keep in mind that an HR interview is not a confidential conversation with your lawyer. We can help you consider how statements or written responses may affect a related criminal case.

9. Sexual Harassment

Workplace sexual harassment in Colorado can include demands for sexual favors tied to a job benefit or unwelcome sex-based conduct that meets the applicable employment law standard. It can lead to workplace discipline or civil liability without a criminal charge.

Some conduct can also support criminal charges. Depending on the facts, unwanted sexual touching may constitute unlawful sexual contact under C.R.S. 18-3-404. That is a separate offense with its own sentencing and potential sex offender registration consequences.¹¹

10. If You Are Accused

Protect the evidence and follow every court order. A Colorado harassment accusation is not a conviction, but your actions after a complaint can affect the case.

1. Ask for a lawyer before discussing the allegations with police. You can exercise your right to remain silent without arguing about the case.
2. Avoid contacting the accuser about the complaint. Do not send an apology, request that they drop charges, or ask someone else to contact them for you. Follow the exact terms of any protection order.
3. Save the complete evidence. Keep messages, call logs, voicemails, emails, and social media exchanges, including material you think looks unfavorable. Do not delete or edit it.
4. Write down witnesses and a timeline. Include locations and potential sources of video. Footage may be overwritten quickly.
5. Attend court and get advice before accepting a plea. Discuss the effects on your record, employment, firearm rights, and any immigration concerns.

Our focus is on challenging weak evidence, protecting your rights, and pursuing a dismissal, reduction, or acquittal when the facts and law support it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can one text message count as harassment in Colorado?

Potentially, yes. One message can support a charge under the threatening or obscene communications provision if it meets all statutory and constitutional requirements. Other forms of harassment require repeated conduct. A single rude or unwanted text is not automatically a crime.

Save the entire conversation. The words before and after a disputed message can matter as much as the message itself.

How many calls or messages count as harassment?

There is no single number that makes every set of calls or messages criminal in Colorado. The answer depends on the subsection charged, the sender’s intent, the content, the timing, and any other required facts. Some forms of harassment do not require repetition at all.

We review what the prosecution claims the communications prove. Counting messages without reading them can give a misleading picture.

Can I go to jail for a first harassment offense?

Yes. A first offense can carry jail time, with the maximum depending on whether the charge is a petty offense, class 2 misdemeanor, or class 1 misdemeanor. However, jail is not mandatory for every Colorado harassment conviction, and some defendants qualify for probation, diversion, or a deferred judgment.

Before accepting an offer, we urge clients to consider both the sentence and the record it leaves behind. Avoiding jail is only one part of evaluating a resolution.

Can the accuser drop harassment charges?

The prosecutor decides whether to pursue or dismiss a Colorado criminal case. The accuser can express their wishes, but they do not control the charges. A case can sometimes continue even if the accuser no longer wants prosecution.

Do not contact the accuser to request a dismissal, especially if a protection order prohibits contact. Give relevant information to your lawyer instead.

Will I be arrested, and can I post bail immediately?

A harassment allegation can lead to a summons or an arrest, depending on the facts and applicable law. When police have probable cause to believe a domestic violence crime occurred, mandatory arrest rules apply.

Release depends on the bond and protection order requirements in your case; there is no universal waiting period for every harassment arrest.

Does domestic violence harassment automatically mean a lifetime gun ban?

No. A domestic violence label alone does not answer that question. Federal law generally prohibits firearm and ammunition possession after a qualifying misdemeanor domestic violence conviction, which requires specific offense elements and a covered relationship. State law and protection orders may impose separate restrictions, and the availability of relief depends on the circumstances.

We review the exact charge, conviction documents, relationship, and court orders before advising whether you can possess a firearm or accept a plea. Do not assume a misdemeanor is harmless to your gun rights.

Can harassment charges be dismissed if there is no video or recording?

Yes, a case can be dismissed when the evidence or legal basis is insufficient, but the absence of a recording does not require dismissal. Witness testimony is evidence and can support a conviction if it proves the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

We would test the witness’s account against messages, timing, other witnesses, and any available records. A case with conflicting accounts can help raise reasonable doubt.

Is swearing at someone harassment?

Not automatically. Ordinary profanity is not the same as legal obscenity, and offensive speech often has First Amendment protection. Threats or repeated provocation may raise different issues, but the prosecution must prove the specific offense and respect constitutional limits.

Can I seal a harassment conviction involving domestic violence?

Possibly, but it is not eligible through the ordinary sealing route. Colorado law provides an exception for certain otherwise ineligible misdemeanor and petty offense convictions if the prosecutor consents or the judge makes the required findings by clear and convincing evidence.

Related Information and Resources

• Domestic violence harassment – Special issues involving intimate partners.
• Colorado stalking laws – When repeated conduct may lead to felony charges.
• Violating a protection order – Consequences of prohibited contact.
• Record sealing – Eligibility and court procedures.
• Colorado Judicial Branch protection-order guidance – Court instructions and current forms.
• Colorado Civil Rights Division – Workplace discrimination complaints and filing information.

Help for Victims

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. Otherwise, preserve messages and other evidence, document incidents, and consider contacting local law enforcement. A civil protection order may be available if the facts meet the legal requirements; you do not have to wait for a criminal conviction to seek one.

For workplace harassment, document what happened and consider using your employer’s reporting process. An employment lawyer or the Colorado Civil Rights Division can explain applicable filing deadlines. Do not assume an internal HR complaint pauses those deadlines.

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