Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins

E59: Defending Humanity in the Justice System

• Nick George • Season 1 • Episode 59

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What happens when your worst day collides with the legal system? Attorney Ryan Markus pulls back the curtain on criminal defense in this eye-opening conversation that challenges how we think about justice, rehabilitation, and second chances.

After years as a public defender serving Fort Collins' most vulnerable populations, Markus now brings that same compassion and insider knowledge to his private practice. He tackles the pervasive myth that alternatives to incarceration are "letting people off easy," explaining how probation and community-based sentences demand accountability while providing pathways to rehabilitation. "These aren't bad things," Markus insists. "They're things that help our community."

The discussion takes a powerful turn when Markus addresses the common question: "How can you defend those people?" His response cuts to the heart of our shared humanity. "By the time I see them, they know they've done wrong," he explains. "If people really sat with these individuals and realized the trauma they've experienced, the ways they themselves have been victims of crime—I think they would judge a lot less." Drawing from personal experience, Markus reveals how his own brushes with the law in his youth shaped his understanding of the vital role defense attorneys play in navigating an overwhelmingly complex system.

Perhaps most compelling is Markus's candid assessment of Colorado's mental health crisis and its impact on the criminal justice system. He describes police officers forced to function as social workers, communities grappling with visible mental illness on their streets, and families desperate for resources that simply don't exist. "We took away asylums because they were barbaric, which was the right thing to do, but we didn't fill that gap," he observes. "We need to do better."

Whether you're facing charges yourself or simply curious about how our justice system really works, Markus's perspective is both enlightening and deeply human. Ready to learn more? Visit https://www.markuslegal.com/ or call 970-698-5334 for a free consultation with an attorney who believes your worst mistake shouldn't define your entire future.

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a professional defender who knows the system and understands the law? The right advocate might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ryan Marcus, with Marcus Law. Ryan, how's it going? It's going very good. Thanks for having me on Good. Tell us all about your business.

Speaker 3:

So I was a public defender for a number of years helping the indigent members of the Fort Collins community, which was something that I really enjoyed. Since leaving, I've started my own practice with Marcus Law, where you get the benefit of us knowing basically the judges, the district attorneys, being local members of your Fort Collins community and really being able to give you help in the area that you're at. I think that everybody makes mistakes. Unfortunately, some people's mistakes land them in a little bit more consequences than other people's, but everybody deserves to be helped and everybody deserves to have somebody to show that they shouldn really feeling bad about the things that they've done or when they've been unfairly prosecuted or unfairly facing what I think can be the very draconian arm of the state occasionally. And so we're here to help, we're here to make you feel comfortable and we're here to make sure that you still have a future ahead of you again, outside of maybe the worst mistake or worst day that you've ever had or even the unfair arm of the state.

Speaker 2:

How did you get into defending the general public in the way that you do?

Speaker 3:

Well, I was lucky enough to get hired by the state public defender's office here in Colorado. The way that that works, which a lot of people don't know, is you get hired by the state and then you just get placed anywhere in the state. So I had the benefit of being placed in Fort Collins. I am from Nebraska Omaha, nebraska, originally been here for about 11 years and really just love Fort Collins. My wife and I are children We've really taken to the town. We think it's a beautiful area. We're lucky enough these days to be in North Windsor or East Tinnith, which is also a beautiful area, and I myself got in some trouble when I was younger not too much, but certainly enough that I was lucky enough to have the help of some good attorneys and I really saw the ways in which it's so important that we have people that can help navigate the incredibly complicated process of the criminal justice system. It can be a good system, it can be a bad system. It really depends, I think, on the people that are in it.

Speaker 3:

When I was in it, I felt like I got to help people that were sort of in my shoes when I was much younger and people that were even in much worse shoes than I was ever in, shoes that I think many of us could never imagine having to walk in, and so the other thing I would say is that when I started with the Public Defender's Office, it was, and still is, a great office.

Speaker 3:

The Fort Collins Public Defender's Office is a great office of good people that really want to help people that don't have a lot of financial resources, people that are in the lower rungs of society, and so I really had the privilege, I think, of working with people that were good, people that were incredibly intelligent and doing work that I felt was good work, helpful work for people. Now I do that in a private capacity. A lot of our firm's work is alternative defense counsel, which is essentially still providing public defender services to people that are indigent, which gives us the benefit, and gives me the benefit, of regularly being in the courtroom, regularly being around the district attorneys and judges in Fort Collins, and so in part, I think it kind of came from some issues I had in my childhood.

Speaker 3:

But really working at the public defender's office just felt like the right calling for me, and I'm lucky to get to continue that work with Marcus Law.

Speaker 2:

What are some myths or misconceptions in defending the public?

Speaker 3:

You know, I think, a common. I don't know if I'd say it's a myth or a misconception, but I think there's really a misunderstanding of the criminal justice system in Fort Collins. You know, I'm sometimes on social media, I'm sometimes on the subreddits, occasionally looking at the Facebook, and I think people don't always understand the ways in which the criminal justice system is very complicated and the ways in which, while it is supposed to be punitive and is supposed to be punitive, it really is also supposed to be rehabilitative. It's really also supposed to help people avoid coming back and engaging in the same kind of behavior that got them in trouble in the first place. You know, sometimes I think I see people look out and say you know how, why didn't that person go to jail? Why didn't that person go to prison? Why are they being given the opportunity of probation and this notion that they're sort of just walking, and I would really push back on that.

Speaker 3:

I think that probation can be a great option. I think that a lot of the community-based sentences that are available are meant to rehabilitate people and they don't let people off the leash. They are expensive, they are time intensive, they are treatment intensive and if people don't comply with any aspect of that sentence, they come back and they face incarceration, and so I do think that there are a lot of good rehabilitative things that the criminal justice system can do to help people that might be struggling with addiction, that might be struggling with stability, that might be struggling with poverty. Those aren't bad things. They're not things that hurt our community. They're things that help our community. Our goal should be to make it so that people aren't in situations where they're committing crimes, and of course, there will be bad apples that need to be locked away for longer periods of time. But I really do hope people and I think people that have experienced it have seen that there are a lot of good ways that the criminal justice system can punish people while still giving them treatment, and I think that's a good thing.

Speaker 3:

I think it's something our community should be behind, and I think sometimes it can be a little misunderstood the way that that happens, and I'll also occasionally get the question of you know how can you represent these people? And I think if you sat in a room with a lot of them, you really wouldn't say that. You know they're people. Everybody deserves help. Everybody deserves to be seen as a human being that should be respected. By the time I see them, they know they've done wrong. Frequently they've sat in jail, they've sat in prison, and if people really sat with a lot of these people and realized what they've gone through, the trauma they've experienced, the ways that they themselves have been victims of crime, I think people would be a lot less, would judge people a lot less than they do. It's rare that I meet people where, while I might disagree with what they did, I don't understand how their history sometimes led them to do it.

Speaker 2:

Who are your target clients and how do you attract them now?

Speaker 3:

So a lot of my, a lot of the clients that I get are actually through referrals. People know me pretty well at the courthouse, people know me in the jail and so I have the benefit of name recognition and people kind of referring people to me when they get in trouble because they know that.

Speaker 3:

I am somebody that's going to take the time to sit with you and talk to you and understand your circumstances and understand your situation and, I think, really give people the help they deserve. I think my target audience is really anybody that's in trouble. They're looking at these charges, they're looking at these and they're thinking their whole life is over, that they've made a terrible mistake and that they've ruined their future. And I hope those people take the time to not dwell in that but to call me or to call someone that can help, because we're here, we're ready to talk, we're ready to provide free consultations and we're ready to help you feel comfortable, that you can be okay, you know, despite maybe a very serious charge or a very serious mistake. And so my target audience is really anybody that's looking at their case, looking at charges, looking at the criminal justice system and feeling very overwhelmed and just need somebody in their corner to help. We will be here to help.

Speaker 2:

Charges of any kind.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. I do a lot of DUIs, I do a lot of possession of controlled substances, many property crimes, but really we handle the gambit at Marcus Law from anywhere from minor harassments and petty thefts to serious arsons, menacings, assaults. We're here to help anybody of any level of crime.

Speaker 2:

Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast? You know?

Speaker 3:

have you ever thought about doing your own podcast? You know I've thought about doing my own podcast at some point about the criminal justice system in colorado. I think that we have done a bit of a disservice to the state by cutting a lot of resources for mental health. I talked when I was in juvie for a little while. I talked to a lot of parents that had kids that had really serious mental health issues and they didn't know what to do. I think marijuana legalization is a good thing.

Speaker 3:

I do think, however, it can sometimes create issues with a little bit of, you know, overconsumption with minors, and we see in Colorado and if you're in Colorado, you know this that there's a lot of mental health issues. There's issues with homelessness, there's issues with stability. A lot of those are rooted in mental health. Summit Stone has struggled with staffing. Some of the local agencies. The mental health institution in Colorado has struggled with staffing, and we need to do better, I think, as a community to create more resources to help people that are mentally ill. You know, a long time ago, we had asylums and we took them away because they were barbaric, which was the right thing to do, but we didn't fill that gap and we need to fill that gap.

Speaker 3:

We need to have a better way of getting people help with mental illness, because if you've been around Denver in certain areas, if you've been around even Fort Collins in certain areas, you've run into encounters with, you know, mentally ill people, maybe transient people or homeless people that are struggling with mental illness.

Speaker 3:

That might make you feel scared or uncomfortable, and people shouldn't have to experience that. The police shouldn't have to deal with that. The police are not people that are social workers. They're not people that you know have a lot of experience with mental health issues. And, frankly, I watch these body cams sometimes and I actually do feel bad for a lot of the police officers for the degree to which they have to become that. They have to become people that are trained and experienced with dealing with people in really serious mental health issues and with really serious mental health crises. And so, funny enough, I've kind of toyed with the idea of doing a podcast with some of my other friends that are criminal defense attorneys, just to speak to the fact that there really are these structural issues that we could do better on as a community and as a state, and I think it would benefit all of us quite a lot.

Speaker 2:

Outside of work. What do you do for fun?

Speaker 3:

So I do a lot of reading. I have kids, which is great Love them. They do take up, I would say, a large majority of my time outside of work. Occasionally I'll find myself playing some computer games or doing some board games with some friends, but a lot of my time these days is just spent reading and hanging out with my kids.

Speaker 2:

Ryan, please tell us, our listeners one thing that they should absolutely remember about Marcus Law.

Speaker 3:

What you should remember about Marcus Law is that there are people there that will help you with compassion, kindness, consideration for your budget and an understanding of the legal justice system. If you're scared for your future, if you're scared for your present, call us. We are here, we can help, we will help.

Speaker 2:

How can our listeners learn more about Marcus Law online and by phone?

Speaker 3:

If you go to marcuslegalcom, you can find all of my information on my website. You can also reach me at 970-698-5334, which is my business number. We will almost always have someone available. We do free consultations, so if you're worried about cost, don't give us a call.

Speaker 2:

Well, Ryan, we really appreciate you being on our show and we wish you and your law firm the very best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, nick, I appreciate the time our show and we wish you and your law firm the very best moving forward.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, nick, I appreciate the time thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfortcollinscom. That's gnpfortcollinscom, or call 970-438-0825.