The People of the State of Colorado v. Kyle Andrew Zoller

Colorado Springs, Colorado criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with violation of a protective order.





In this appeal, we are asked to decide whether the district court made findings sufficient to support its denial of Kyle Andrew Zoller's motion to modify a no-contact provision issued as part of a mandatory protection order (MPO) under section 18-1-1001(1), (3)(a)(II), C.R.S. 2023. As relevant to Zoller's motion, the MPO prevents Zoller from "contacting or directly or indirectly communicating with" his minor daughter - a victim and witness of his domestic crimes - until he has completed his prison and parole sentences. The court found that the order was justified for the daughter's safety and refused to modify it before Zoller's sentence is complete.





Addressing an issue of first impression, we conclude that to maintain the challenged no-contact provision of Zoller's MPO, additional findings are required. Because the court did not specifically find that the purpose of this infringement on Zoller's fundamental constitutional right to parental association could not be accomplished by less restrictive means, we must reverse the court's order and remand the case for additional proceedings.



People v. Zoller, 2023 COA 117, 22CA1612 (Colo. App. Dec 07, 2023)

Reversed and remanded.