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In July 2022, Colleen Calandra was charged in Broomfield County District Court with one count of first-degree perjury and one count of attempting to influence a public servant, both class 4 felonies.
In February 2024, Calandra entered a guilty plea to the latter charge as part of a deferred sentence. After Calandra completed the deferred sentence, the plea was withdrawn and the case was dismissed and sealed.
The charges against Calandra were predicated on her conduct in 2022 during her domestic relations case. In that matter, Calandra pro se moved to strike the opposing party’s motion to restrict parenting time, falsely denying in her motion that she had consumed alcohol on the day of her supervised visitation with the parties’ child. According to the disciplinary opinion, Calandra attached to her motion a fabricated EtG test result that showed she tested negative for alcohol when in fact the test she took did not screen for alcohol. At the hearing on the motion to restrict parenting time, Calandra testified that she hadn’t consumed alcohol on the day of the supervised visitation, that she had taken an EtG test on the day following the visitation, that she received an EtG printout from an employee of the testing facility and that someone watched her urinate.
In addition, Calandra denied fabricating the test results that she provided to the court and to her former spouse and his counsel, and she represented to the court that she had documentation purporting to show that she submitted to the EtG test. The court entered findings that Calandra had consumed alcohol on the day of the visitation and had fabricated the document showing that she tested negative for alcohol on the following day. Through counsel, Calandra moved to reconsider the court’s findings on numerous grounds, supporting her motion with her affidavit.
Calandra moved to retract her affidavit and her testimony at the hearing 12 days later.
The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved Calandra’s stipulation to discipline and suspended her for three years, effective July 29. To be reinstated to the practice of law, Calandra must prove by clear and convincing evidence that she has been rehabilitated, has complied with all disciplinary orders and rules and is fit to practice law.