Jamie Leary is a reporter at CBS Colorado. Share you story ideas with her by sending an email to yourreporter@cbs.com.
After helping resolve more than 750 low-level warrants since 2021, the Fresh Start program in Colorado's Jefferson County isn't slowing down. Outreach efforts are expanding with targeted text messages aimed at helping more people resolve outstanding cases before they lead to arrests and jail bookings.
What began with flyers posted around courthouses and along Colfax Avenue has evolved into a broader metro-area effort designed to reduce low-level warrants tied to missed court appearances while lowering taxpayer costs and easing pressure on law enforcement and jails.
"We started off advertising the first one with flyers; flyers around the courthouse, flyers placed on Colfax," said First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King.
In November 2024, the program launched its first multi-jurisdiction Fresh Start event in coordination with Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder and Pueblo counties. The effort allowed participants to virtually appear in multiple jurisdictions during the same event to resolve eligible warrants. Officials say a record 141 local warrants were cleared during that event alone.
Held about twice a year on Saturdays, the events rely on volunteers from across the justice system, including judges, prosecutors, public defenders, probation officers and community partners who help connect participants with additional resources and services.
Now, participating jurisdictions also use targeted text outreach to notify eligible people that they may qualify for the program.
Officials say many of the cases tied to the program involve "failure to appear" warrants connected to low-level misdemeanor and traffic cases.
The program is open to people with active low-level warrants tied to misdemeanor or traffic offenses, some low-level property felonies, certain drug felonies and some probation violations. Violent offenses, weapons charges, most felony cases and domestic violence-related cases are not eligible.
Officials say the effort also helps law enforcement focus on more serious crimes.
"Well, I would like law enforcement to be on the street working on things that aren't low risk, low level because we have other things to worry about in other places; we want to focus our resources. So if this saves a patrol deputy a couple hours processing a Low risk, low level warrant because they took care of it on a Saturday, that's worth it to me," said King.
According to county officials, resolving warrants through the program has collectively avoided hundreds of thousands of dollars in jail costs by preventing arrests and overnight jail stays.
"We've served around 600 people, and what we are contemplating is if a booking, if someone gets booked into the jail, it's about $100. And then to keep them overnight is about $120," King said.
For Anthony Marin, the program offered a chance to finally move forward.
When Marin attended a Fresh Start event in 2022, he had traveled from Louisiana with his father to resolve a Jefferson County warrant dating back to 2005.
"I think I am trying to do this for her, for my daughter," Marin said at the time.
He was one of 93 people waiting to have their warrants resolved that day.
"This is the last thing in my life," Marin said in 2022.
Years later, Marin said the relief still sticks with him.
"Knowing that you have something like that hanging over your head really makes you live in fear," Marin said.
When asked whether he remembered the day he resolved the warrant, Marin said, "I remember it very well."
"That was one of the greatest things ever. Like, I was so relieved when I could finally not have to worry about it. Period," Marin shared.
“We want a justice system that works and works efficiently. And frankly, we want people to trust that the justice system can accept that some folks need just a hand up,” King said. “This is our way of offering additional public service on a Saturday. It’s volunteer based from every part of the system, and we do our best to serve as many people as we can.”
The next Fresh Start event is scheduled for May 2, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Jefferson County Administration and Courts Facility, located at 100 Jefferson County Parkway in Golden.
The event is open to eligible people with active warrants in Jefferson or Gilpin counties tied to qualifying low-level offenses. Attorneys are also available virtually in Boulder, Adams and Broomfield counties for participants with eligible warrants in those jurisdictions.
More information about eligibility is available through the First Judicial District Attorney's Office.