John Galligan

John found a passion for criminal defense very early while enrolled in law school at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. John interned at the Colorado Springs Office of the State Public Defender in 2011 and continued to work in criminal defense at the Criminal Defense Clinic while in law school.

John began his legal career at the Denver Office of the Colorado State Public Defender over a decade ago where he handled a wide variety of cases, including traffic offenses, misdemeanors, sexual assaults, homicides, and grand jury indictments under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act (COCCA). John has extensive trial experience having been the lead attorney or co-counsel on over 40 cases that have proceeded to trial.

Towards the end of John’s career with the public defender’s office, he found a passion for post-conviction work. During this time John honed his legal research and writing skills, authoring several appeals. As a result, John has extensive experience handling appeals, correcting illegal sentences under Crim. P. 35(a), and litigating ineffective assistance of counsel claims pursuant to Crim. P. 35(c).

John is one of the most knowledgeable attorneys in Denver and often is called upon by attorneys in the community as someone who not only can be trusted to know the answer to just about any legal question off the top of his head but will go above and beyond to provide legal citations in support of his response.

At DeChant Law, John’s practice consists of criminal defense, administrative driver’s license matters, and post-conviction work. He gives people a second chance by drafting direct appeals and litigating ineffective assistance of counsel claims to ensure everyone’s rights are protected and held to the highest standards.