On its website today, the Denver Post reported that the Colorado Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by a Greeley, Colorado defendant charged with the crime of illegal gambling. The charges originated after a 2008 Colorado Bureau of Investigations probe of a buy in Texas Hold ‘Em tournament that the defendant and four others had organized. All five defendants were arrested and charged by the Weld County District Attorneys Office with the crime of professional gambling.
The defendant reported upon here was the first of the five co-defendants to have his case go to a jury trial. At trial, the defendant’s criminal defense attorney presented a defense that the game of poker is not a game of chance, but rather, a game of skill. The distinction is important as Colorado law does not criminalize games (or competitions) of skill even if the contestants or players do not have a social connection and even if the game or competition is played for money. However, where games of chance are played for money, and the contestants do not have a social connection, it is considered illegal gambling under Colorado law.
To support this defense, the defendant’s criminal defense lawyer called an expert witness to testify that poker is indeed a game of skill and not a game of chance. The expert, University of Denver professor Bob Hannum, testified that poker is a game of skill. After hearing the evidence of both the Weld County District Attorney and the defendant, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. Subsequently, the four other defendants had their cases dismissed. However, the Weld County District Attorney appealed the County Court Judge’s ruling allowing the expert witness to testify at trial and requesting that the Court clarify Colorado criminal law on illegal gambling. The basic argument of this appeal being that Colorado law has already determined poker to be a game of chance and therefore, this expert witness should not have been allowed to testify. A Weld County District Court judge agreed and ruled that the County Court judge had made a mistake in allowing the expert to testify and declared that Colorado law has already determined that poker is a game of chance and therefore subject to the illegal gambling statute. The defendant, with the assistance of the Poker Players Alliance appealed the District Court’s ruling to the Colorado Supreme Court. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case which essentially lets the ruling of the Weld County District Court stand – that poker is a game of chance under Colorado criminal law.
While the Denver criminal defense attorneys at Frankfurt & Trani, P.C. always respect the rulings of the appellate courts, especially the Colorado Supreme Court, there are instances where we believe the Court to be dead wrong. Here, we most definately, but respectfully, disagree with the Weld County District Court’s ruling and the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision not to address this issue. Our criminal defense attorneys recently represented a client charged with illegal gambling in the Pueblo County Court where a similar defense, i.e. that poker is a game of skill, was contemplated. Unfortunately, this case never made it to a jury trial so that this defense could be used (the defendant accepted a plea bargain of a deferred judgment negotiated by a criminal defense attorney from our office). However, our research led our attorneys to agree that poker is a game of skill that should be exempt from Colorado’s law criminalizing the game of poker.
Due to the Colorado Supreme Court’s refusal to address this issue, it will be more difficult for Colorado criminal defense lawyers to present this defense when similar cases arise. The Colorado criminal defense attorneys at Frankfurt & Trani, P.C., however, do not believe that this legal issue is settled and will most certainly fight to present this defense for any future clients charged with the crime of illegal gambling for playing the game of poker in Denver or any other Colorado county.
What do you think? Is poker a game of skill? Or is it a game of chance?
The EU Lisbon Treaty is due to come into effect in Jan 2009. It will be the final stage of a plan the European bankers and elites have been working on for decades. A scientific control grid, monitoring and controlling your every move. From 2009 onwards you will gradually lose more and more of your freedom, privacy and control of your life. The Lisbon Treaty proposes the following, for the first time: The EU will be a state You will be a real citizen of the state EU will decide your rights EU criminal law will overrule Irish criminal law. EU policing will overrule Irish policing Many other area of legislation will be handed over to the unelected eurocrats in Brussels.
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