The city of Aurora may consider a new law that would allow a juvenile to be prosecuted in municipal court with a misdemeanor for “sexting” nude or sexually explicit images in some circumstances instead of an automatic felony.
At a study session Monday, the Aurora City Council decided to wait to see what the Colorado Legislature does with a being discussed this session.
Currently under state law, juvenile offenders can only be prosecuted with a felony, even if the act was considering sexual exploration or curiosity.
In those circumstance, prosecutors are sometimes unwilling to file charges for an offense that .
“Any image of a child is felony child pornography,” said Nancy Rodgers, senior assistant city attorney for Aurora. “These cases aren’t getting responded to at all.”
The proposed Aurora ordinance is similar to the state’s proposal but differs in a few areas.
The municipal ordinance does not have a requirement that the child who is charged be within four years in age of the juvenile who is depicted if the image.
Also, the state law would require reporting or deletion of the image within 72 hours. The city’s proposal says that would be in “good faith” but not be a deciding factor on whether an affirmative defense applies.
Aurora police are in favor of the new city ordinance, which could come back to the council for consideration the bill day at the legislature.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175, cillescas@denverpost.com or @cillescasdp
