Aurora moves to eliminate mandatory jail sentences for retail theft after Colorado Supreme Court ruling

Aurora is changing how it punishes some crimes after a Colorado Supreme Court ruling forced the city to revisit parts of its criminal code.

For Aurora business owner Scott Davenport, security has become part of doing business. Davenport owns Heirlooms Antique Mall along Havana Street and says crime around his stores has improved over the years, but theft has not disappeared.

"Pokémon cards, clothing, different things that they can resell," said Davenport. "I do not sell gold or diamonds for that reason."

Aurora took a tougher approach to retail theft in recent years, requiring mandatory jail time for some people convicted in municipal court. The city's current code calls for at least 72 hours in jail for retail theft involving more than $100, and 90 days for someone with one prior retail-theft conviction and 180 days for someone with at least two prior convictions.

Those mandatory sentences are now on their way out.

Aurora City Council unanimously approved an ordinance on first reading Monday that would remove the retail-theft mandatory minimums along with a number of other changes to the city's criminal code.

The move comes after a Colorado Supreme Court ruling involving cases out of Aurora and Westminster. The court ruled that when a city ordinance prohibits the same conduct as state law, a municipality can still prosecute the offense but cannot impose a punishment greater than what state law allows for that same conduct.

Aurora's proposed ordinance cites that decision in explaining why portions of the city code need to be changed.

During Monday's council meeting, Aurora City Attorney Pete Schulte emphasized that retail theft itself is not being eliminated from city code.

"Removing the mandatory minimum of three days in jail if convicted of retail theft - that's all it does," Schulte told council.

Schulte told council that prosecutors had already stopped seeking the mandatory minimum sentences following the Supreme Court ruling and direction from a majority of council.

He also said there was a practical issue with carrying out some of those sentences.

"After talking with Sheriff Brown and the jail, they weren't holding them either," Schulte said. "So it became whether or not we should, you know, sentence them and have them go over there just to be released."

Schulte explained that one narrow portion of Aurora's retail-theft law - the three-day minimum for theft between $100 and $299.99 - could have remained within the state's maximum sentence for that level of offense. He said prosecutors nevertheless stopped seeking it after the council directed his office not to enforce the mandatory minimums.

Other mandatory sentences, including the longer penalties for repeat offenders, are also being removed under the proposed ordinance.

For Davenport, those tougher penalties were something he supported. He believes the possibility of jail time gave would-be thieves another reason to think before stealing.

"If there is a penalty for your actions, I think it does make you think a little bit," Davenport said.

CBS Colorado previously spoke with Davenport in February 2025 as Aurora Police increased its presence along Havana Street. At the time, he said theft was still happening, but conditions had improved. City officials also said they believed tougher retail-theft penalties were among several efforts contributing to a decline. 

Davenport said he's concerned about what repeated theft can do to smaller businesses that may not be able to absorb theft.

"The losses? You just can't keep going," he said.

The ordinance was introduced Monday and must go through a second reading before it can become final. Aurora requires ordinances to be considered at a second meeting after their initial introduction and publication.