Section 24-72-305 - Allowance or denial of inspection - grounds - procedure - appeal(1) The custodian of criminal justice records may allow any person to inspect such records or any portion thereof except on the basis of any one of the following grounds or as provided in subsection (5) of this section: (a) Such inspection would be contrary to any state statute;(b) Such inspection is prohibited by rules promulgated by the supreme court or by the order of any court.(1.5) On the ground that disclosure would be contrary to the public interest, the custodian of criminal justice records shall deny access to the results of chemical biological substance testing to determine the genetic markers conducted pursuant to sections 16-11-102.4 and 16-23-104, C.R.S.(5) On the ground that disclosure would be contrary to the public interest, and unless otherwise provided by law, including as required by section 24-72-303 (4), the custodian may deny access to records of investigations conducted by or of intelligence information or security procedures of any sheriff, district attorney, or police department or any criminal justice investigatory files compiled for any other law enforcement purpose.(6) If the custodian denies access to any criminal justice record, the applicant may request a written statement of the grounds for the denial, which statement shall be provided to the applicant within seventy-two hours, shall cite the law or regulation under which access is denied or the general nature of the public interest to be protected by the denial, and shall be furnished forthwith to the applicant.(7) Any person denied access to inspect any criminal justice record covered by this part 3 may apply to the district court of the district wherein the record is found for an order directing the custodian of such record to show cause why said custodian should not permit the inspection of such record. A hearing on such application shall be held at the earliest practical time. Unless the court finds that the denial of inspection was proper, it shall order the custodian to permit such inspection and, upon a finding that the denial was arbitrary or capricious, it may order the custodian to pay the applicant's court costs and attorney fees in an amount to be determined by the court. Upon a finding that the denial of inspection of a record of an official action was arbitrary or capricious, the court may also order the custodian personally to pay to the applicant a penalty in an amount not to exceed twenty-five dollars for each day that access was improperly denied.(8) The allowance or denial of the right to inspect criminal justice records that contain specialized details of security arrangements or investigations shall be governed by section 24-72-204 (2)(a)(VIII).Amended by 2019 Ch. 96, § 2, eff. 4/12/2019.L. 77: Entire part added, p. 1246, § 1, effective December 31. L. 78: IP(1) amended and (2) to (4) repealed, pp. 403, 407, §§ 1, 4, effective May 5. L. 99: (1.5) added, p. 1170, § 6, effective July 1. L. 2000: (1.5) amended, p. 1266, § 6, effective May 26; (1.5) amended, p. 1028, § 8, effective July 1. L. 2002: (1.5) amended, p. 1024, § 44, effective June 1; (1.5) amended, p. 1155, § 16, effective July 1. L. 2005: (8) added, p. 503, § 3, effective July 1. L. 2006: (1.5) amended, p. 1692, § 16, effective July 1, 2007. L. 2007: (1.5) amended, p. 2040, § 61, effective June 1. L. 2009: (1.5) amended, (SB 09-241), ch. 1577, p. 1577, § 3, effective September 30, 2010. L. 2010: (1.5) amended, (HB 10-1422), ch. 2087, p. 2087, § 77, effective August 11. L. 2019: (5) amended, (HB 19 -1119), ch. 354, p. 354, § 2, effective April 12.(1) Amendments to subsection (1.5) by House Bill 00-1166 and Senate Bill 00-121 were harmonized.
(2) Amendments to subsection (1.5) by Senate Bill 02-159 and Senate Bill 02-019 were harmonized.