Former Colorado state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis convicted of attempt to influence a public figure, forgery

Former Colorado state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis was convicted by a Denver jury on Wednesday on multiple charges related to her time in the state legislature.

She was convicted of all four felony charges -- attempting to influence a public figure and three counts of forgery, the Denver District Attorney's Office said.

CBS News Colorado learned of the convictions after 5 p.m. and a voicemail was left for her attorney seeking comment after business hours.

"The public expects that governments operate honestly and transparently and that elected officials be held to a high standard," Denver District Attorney John Walsh said in a statement. "Sonya Jaquez Lewis has now been convicted by a Denver jury of fabricating documents during a legislative investigation - behavior that we as a community simply cannot tolerate."

Details of the case against her weren't immediately available and CBS Colorado requested additional records from the DA's office on Wednesday. News of the charges being filed also wasn't made public in a public statement or news conference, but was first reported by Colorado Politics in July 2025. She was released on a personal recognizance bond, court records show.

She was arraigned over the summer, and the trial began on Monday, ultimately lasting three days, court records show.

An ethics probe was launched in response to complaints about Jaquez Lewis' alleged mistreatment of legislative aides in 2024, which she denied, citing "false allegations," saying, in part, that she was being made "the artificial focus of this larger conflict. I am being dragged through the mud for political ends."

In December of 2024, the Political Workers Guild of Colorado, a labor union that represents legislative aides, campaign workers, and political organizers, called on her to resign, which she then announced she would do on Feb. 18, 2025, saying she was going to work for a "regional not-for-profit that focuses on developing future women and LGBTQ+ leaders through an International lens."

The offenses she was accused of were committed between Jan. 31 and Feb. 11, 2025, court records show.

Jaquez Lewis was first elected to the State House in 2019 and elected to the State Senate in 2021, where she won reelection in 2024.

She's scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 27.