Boulder County Offers A 'Fresh Start' To People With A Warrant
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- Saturday the Boulder County legal community offered people with outstanding warrants in Boulder County to have those warrants forgiven and erased. They held their fourth ever Fresh Start warrant forgiveness event.
When Boulder County District Attorney's Chief Trial Deputy Adrian Van Nice first came up with the idea of the Fresh Start in 2019, people with outstanding warrants thought it sounded too good to be true.
"They thought it was a trick, they weren't sure if they showed up they wouldn't get arrested," said Van Nice.
She knew, however, they had to do something because there always seems to be a lot of warrants for low level offenses, just hanging around.
"1,906 cases that are sitting stagnant on the court's docket, they're sitting stagnant in our office," Van Nice said.
Like in 2019, this year's event once again focused on getting those cases moving.
Van Nice said, "We clear these cases off of the court docket and we clear these cases out of our office and we make sure that the victims and the community that may be impacted by these cases financially are able to receive their restitution."
Just because a person's warrant is forgiven doesn't mean they get off scot free.
"Our program requires individuals to come in and face the consequences of their case in the same way that they would if the warrant had never been issued," said Van Nice.
There is a judge on site to settle cases if possible, or people can get new court dates, but one thing that won't happen, they will not be arrested for that low-level warrant.
"You really don't get arrested when you come into fresh start," said Van Nice.
Boulder County plans to have another event in April. They try to have them twice a year. People who qualify are usually are usually sent a letter.
You can always call the Clerk of the Court in Boulder County and take advantage of their warrant walk in program.
