Criminal Defense

My areas of criminal law expertise range from simple traffic matters and DUI cases to serious felony cases, such as sexual assault and murder. If it is important to my clients, it is important to me.

Immigration

I specialize in immigration issues as they intersect with criminal law, primarily removal and detention, even for those individuals not charged with a crime. I also want to help people either stay in or enter the U.S. with authorization and I accept cases involving asylum, non-immigrant visas, green cards, and citizenship.

CO, May 2003
Bar Number: 34710

Admitted to all Colorado State Courts and the U.S. District for the District of Colorado (Federal).

• Vice President, Mesa County Bar Association
• Member, Colorado Bar Association
• Member, Colorado Criminal Defense Bar
• Chair, Mesa County Access to Justice Committee
• Board Member, Pro Bono Project of Mesa County

I attend continuing legal education seminars on topics in Criminal Law and Immigration Law to continue my legal education. Some of those topics have included multi-day courses in firearms training, criminal trial skills, and mitigation and defense of death penalty cases. I have also attended seminars in domestic violence defense, legal ethics in criminal defense, evidence in removal proceedings and a yearly seminar on changes that have occurred in criminal law. A lawyer should never stop learning how to improve her knowledge and skill.

• Forward, Perversities and Prospects: Whither Immigration Enforcement and Detention in the Anti-Terrorism Aftermath? Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy (2002)

• Book Note, The Story of Public Housing in America, Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy (2001)

• El sonido de la nieve, Idaho Unido (1997)

I have won acquittals at trial on cases involving felony and misdemeanor assaults, sexual assaults, domestic violence, weapons charges, drug possession, harassment, bond violations, nuisances, and driving offenses. I've beaten the most serious charges at trial on cases involving drug distribution, driving offenses, and nuisances. I have also secured for my clients outright dismissals on cases involving drug importation, assaults, menacing, domestic violence, child abuse, violations of protection orders, bond violations, and driving offenses. I have successfully negotiated all types of plea dispositions regarding practically any type of criminal offense one can imagine.

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Colorado

The firm specializes in exceptional criminal defense and exceptional removal defense. Leslie J. Castro, P.C. was established in January 2005 after I opened my own practice.

After graduating from law school, I moved to Grand Junction, Colorado. I was very fortunate to be hired as a legal assistant with the law firm of Carlson, Meissner & Gurley ("CMG"), which specialized in personal injury, worker's compensation, social security disability and criminal defense. Once I passed the bar exam, CMG hired me as an associate lawyer. I am grateful to CMG because I learned much about the private practice of law and helping real people with real problems. I left in December 2004 to establish my own practice.

While in law school, I worked as a paralegal for Zipin & Melehy, an employment and civil rights firm in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the immigration firm of Carliner, Remes & Mirbagheri-Smith in Washington, D.C. I also wrote asylum petitions as an intern for the World Organization Against Torture in Washington, D.C. and I educated farmworkers on their legal rights as a Law Fellow for Idaho Legal Aid's Migrant Farmworker Unit in Caldwell, Idaho. Finally, I was a Faculty Advisor for National Youth Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., which introduces high school students to the practice of law in our nation's capital.

While in college, I worked the graveyard shift for a computer chip manufacturer, American Microsystems, Inc. In high school and before college I worked as an Assistant Head Waitress, an Assistant Manager and a Night Shift Supervisor at various restaurants. I have always tried to work my way to the top of any job I have had, because no matter what you do for a living, you should perform to the best of your capabilities. I know that hard work is one of the secrets to a successful life - and to a successful case outcome.

I volunteer on several boards to improve our local and state legal system and to improve access to the courts for all. I am also very involved in the community of Colorado lawyers by being active in the local and state bar associations. Mesa County, Colorado is my community, and I wish to do everything I can to improve the practice of law and make Mesa County a better place for everyone.

(970) 245-8885

Monday through Friday
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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I do not have a fixed-price for fees, as criminal and immigration cases can be very simple or very complex due to the facts, the outcome desired, the way a criminal offense is charged, and the history of the client. If the case is a criminal case in Mesa County Colorado, I will often offer a flat fee for representation, which means you pay one fee no matter how few or how many hours it takes to resolve your case. My exception for flat-fee cases in Mesa County, Colorado is for serious felonies such as murder cases and sexual assault cases, for which I would charge my hourly fee. For cases outside of Mesa County, Colorado, I charge my hourly fee with a deposit, determined by me and agreed upon by the client, up front, against which I charge the hourly rate.

$200

I offer a free initial one hour consultation.

Misdemeanor criminal cases generally run from $1,500 to $3,000, and a felony criminal case can run anywhere from $3,000 on up. The amount requested by me depends on many factors, including the type of case and whether the client wishes to go to trial. Please call my office to set up a free consultation to discuss the particular facts of your case.