A person may not be convicted of an offense, other than a class 1
felony, based upon conduct in which he engaged at the direction of another person because of
the use or threatened use of unlawful force upon him or upon another person, which force or
threatened use thereof a reasonable person in his situation would have been unable to resist. This
defense is not available when a person intentionally or recklessly places himself in a situation in
which it is foreseeable that he will be subjected to such force or threatened use thereof. The
choice of evils defense, provided in section 18-1-702, shall not be available to a defendant in
addition to the defense of duress provided under this section unless separate facts exist which
warrant its application.
Source: L. 71: R&RE, p. 411, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 40-1-808. L. 88: Entire section
amended, p. 712, § 15, effective July 1.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
36
cases (
3 in the last 5 years), 1978–2026 · leading case:
People v. Speer, 255 P.3d 1115 (Colo. 2011).
People v. Speer, 255 P.3d 1115 (Colo. 2011).
· cites it 34× “I respectfully dissent because I believe this court has erroneously imported elements of the choice of evils defense into the defense of duress, conflating the two, contrary to the plain language of section 18-1-708, C.R.S. (2010). In addition, I disagree with the majority's…”
Doubleday v. People, 2016 CO 3 (Colo. 2016).
· cites it 7× “_ Whether duress is a defense to felony murder for purposes of section 18-1-708, C.R.S. (2015).”
People v. Quintana, 665 P.2d 605 (Colo. 1983).
· cites it 6× “Section 18-1-708, C.R.S.1973 (1978 Repl.Vol.”
Stevens v. People, 29 P.3d 305 (Colo. 2001).
· cites it 4× “[36] These claims may represent an unsophisticated attempt to establish the defense of duress a statutory defense available to a person who engages in unlawful conduct because of the threatened use of force upon him or another person.”
People v. Nunn, 148 P.3d 222 (Colo. Ct. App. 2006).
· cites it 4× “based upon conduct in which he engaged at the direction of another person because of the use or threatened use of unlawful force upon him or upon another person, which force or threatened use thereof a reasonable person in his situation would have been unable to resist.”
People v. Guenther, 740 P.2d 971 (Colo. 1987).
· cites it 2× “Finally, by way of example, section 18-1-708, 8B C.R.S. (1986), provides that a person “may not be convicted of an offense” committed under duress.”
People v. Handy, 603 P.2d 941 (Colo. 1979).
· cites it 6× “8) and duress, section 18-1-708, C.R.S. 1973 (now in 1978 Repl.”
People v. Auman, 67 P.3d 741 (Colo. Ct. App. 2003).
· cites it 3× “The trial court gave an instruction that tracked § 18-1-708, C.R.S. 2002, and CJI-Crim. 7:09.”
Bailey v. People, 630 P.2d 1062 (Colo. 1981).
· cites it 3× “agents constituted duress under section 18-1-708, C.R.S. 1973, which provides: “A person may not be convicted of an offense, other than a class 1 felony, based upon conduct in which he engaged because of the use or threatened use of unlawful force upon him or upon another…”
People v. Al-Yousif, 206 P.3d 824 (Colo. Ct. App. 2006).
· cites it 4× “Section 18-1-708, C.R.S.2005, provides that a person may not be convicted of an offense, other than a class one felony, for conduct committed under duress.”
People v. Preciado-Flores, 66 P.3d 155 (Colo. Ct. App. 2002).
· cites it 2× “Section 18-1-708, C.R.8.2002, defines the defense of duress: A person may not be convicted of an offense, other than a class 1 felony, based upon conduct in which he engaged at the direction of another person because of the use or threatened use of unlawful force upon him or…”
People v. Doubleday, 369 P.3d 595 (Colo. Ct. App. 2012).
· cites it 5× “2011 (abandonment is an affirmative defense to attempt offenses); however, the sections defining aggravated robbery contain no exceptions or defenses, see §§ 18-4-801, 18-4-302, C.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.