Wolf Law founder and managing partner Jeff Wolf was featured in a 9News story about a man who was recently convicted in a Denver court of sexual assault, but has so far failed to register as a sex offender.
In July, 28-year-old Jared Bates pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. He was sentenced by a Denver judge to 45 days in jail and five years probation. He was also required to register as a sex offender in Arapahoe County, which as of Aug. 2 he still had not done.
Although Wolf Law does not represent Bates, the Denver criminal defense law firm does handle probation violation cases. Mr. Wolf, an accomplished criminal defense attorney, acknowledged that sex offenders occasionally avoid registration on purpose, but that failure to do so is often a mistake.
“The reasons that somebody might not register can vary greatly,” Mr. Wolf told 9News. “A lot of times, you’ll hear somebody say, ‘I didn’t know I had to register’ or ‘I thought it was done automatically.’”
Bates was given five days to register, a deadline he has surpassed by three weeks as of Aug. 2. He could now face felony charges from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.
As Mr. Wolf stated in the 9News segment, “I think the thing that’s important for people to understand is to try to have empathy on all sides of this. To see that not only is the victim’s family dealing with this, not only is the defendant and his family dealing with this, but law enforcement is dealing with it too.”
“The reality of the situation is the criminal justice system is full of tasks and full of people working very hard to complete those tasks for whatever side they’re working for,” he added. “There are no winners in these cases. There are no losers. There’s just everybody being affected.”
