An Aurora man served nearly four months longer than state law allows and was released a month after a landmark Colorado Supreme Court ruling found that cities cannot hand out tougher sentences than the state for the same crimes.
Records show Tajuddin Ashaheed’s case became the first to test how Aurora would respond to the unanimous state Supreme Court ruling from People v. Camp and Simons.
"It indicated to me that my sentence was illegal and I could get it vacated," Ashaheed said.
Watch Denver7 senior investigative reporter Jennifer Kovaleski's story in the video below:
Aurora court records show a jury convicted Ashaheed on two counts of harassment, which is a city ordinance domestic violence violation, for posting a photo to his X account of him with a bullet in his mouth during an online dispute with an ex-girlfriend.
On June 17, 2025, a municipal judge gave him the city's maximum sentence of 364 days. At the time, that sentence was consistent with Aurora's municipal code. It was only after the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling later that year that sentences like his became unlawful.
“It was considered a threat, and the judge didn't take too kindly to it and gave me a year,” Ashaheed said of his charges.
When asked whether his conduct justified the maximum sentence, Ashaheed was direct.
"No, not at all," he said.
Soon after the Supreme Court’s decision came down, his public defender filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence in Aurora City Court.
"I knew that the consequences would be pretty big because it meant that not only was my sentence illegal, but that a lot of people's sentences were illegal," Ashaheed said.
After weeks of legal back and forth, records show a judge agreed, ordering his release at the end of January. But by then, Ashaheed had already served 229 days for a crime the state says should carry a maximum of no more than 120.
"I can't get that time back," he said.
Colorado Supreme Court ruling having a ripple effect
Denver7 Investigates reported last month how the ruling is already upending cases statewide, changing hundreds in Aurora alone after a previous city council pushed a tough-on-crime agenda. Ashley Cordero, one of the attorneys behind the Colorado Supreme Court ruling, said Aurora stood out.
"Aurora, more than any other jurisdiction, was one where I was observing actually imposing these disproportionately harsher sentences," Codero said in a previous interview with Denver7 Investigates.
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Newly obtained court records confirm Ashaheed was one of three inmates Aurora said were potentially serving harsher sentences when the ruling came down and filed motions with the court to have their sentences changed.
Court notices obtained by Denver7 Investigates also show Aurora is cutting suspended sentences in hundreds of active cases to match state limits. In case after case, the city is filing joint notices to make clear future jail time cannot exceed those maximums.
Ashaheed has a message for Aurora's leaders.
"You have a lot of work ahead of you to unravel a lot of laws and policies that have not served the people," he said.
Civil rights groups call on cities to act
The Colorado Freedom Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union recently sent letters to more than 50 city councils urging them to rewrite sentencing codes quickly or risk "a flood of criminal appeals and the possibility of civil lawsuits."
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Dana Steiner, policy counsel for the Colorado Freedom Fund, said the scope of the problem is statewide.
"This isn't something that is impacting just a couple of folks. This isn't something that is impacting just a couple of jurisdictions. This is impactful for Coloradans across the state," Steiner said.
Steiner added the urgency is clear.
"Cities need to take action," she said.
Aurora has stopped handing out harsher sentences, but the city's criminal code still has not been formally brought in line with state law. City leaders say that update is in the works.
Potential legal action
Ashaheed said he is considering a civil lawsuit to hold the city publicly accountable for what happened in his case.
"I lost time with my family — my daughter, especially my granddaughter," he said.
