CO - 10th Circuit finds judge erred in imposing sex offender treatment for man's bank robbery conviction
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10th Circuit finds judge erred in imposing sex offender treatment for man's bank robbery conviction
The presentence report relied on unproven allegations of sex assault to recommend sex offender treatment for the defendant
Michael Karlik - michael...@coloradopolitics.com
Aug 4, 2025 Updated 17 hrs ago
The Denver-based federal appeals court concluded on Friday that a judge imposed sex offender treatment for a defendant's attempted bank robbery conviction in violation of federal sentencing rules.
James Robert Clark is serving 78 months in prison for an attempted December 2023 bank robbery in Commerce City. He will also serve two years of supervised release after prison. Among other conditions, Clark will need to participate in sex offender evaluation and treatment, stemming from the lone attempted sex offense he committed 21 years earlier.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit noted Clark had objected to his sentencing materials containing the original allegations against him of "hands-on" sex assault, which he never admitted and never pleaded guilty to. Clark's trial judge had an obligation to either determine if those allegations were true or to ignore them when handing down the sentence.
Instead, "we agree with Mr. Clark that the district court committed legal error by neither requiring the Government to prove the veracity of the disputed Warrant Affidavit nor ignoring that information altogether as required," wrote Judge Carolyn B. McHugh in the panel's Aug. 1 order.
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