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Steamboat man involved in police standoff on New Year’s Eve sentenced to five years in prison

A Routt County judge has sentenced a 39-year-old man from Steamboat Springs to five years in prison, ending months of court proceedings stemming from multiple incidents including an hourslong standoff with police on New Year’s Eve.

The prison sentence handed down Friday by District Court Judge Michael O’Hara III came after Daniel Domin pleaded guilty to felony second-degree arson, misdemeanor failure to leave the premises and violating a probation order for a felony stalking conviction.

The conviction concludes more than six months of legal proceedings that began after Domin was arrested multiple times over the course of a couple of weeks in December and roughly 1.5 years after he pleaded guilty in a felony stalking case.



On Dec. 22, Steamboat police arrested Domin on felony arson charges after he set fire to his neighbor’s pickup at the Sparta Plaza condominium complex.

Domin posted a $25,000 bond four days after the arson. However, less than 24 hours after his release, Domin violated a protection order that forbid him from contacting the his neighbor. According to arrest documents, Domin had returned to his condo complex and yelled “good morning” to his neighbor before walking close and “giving him the stink eye or evil eye.”



As a result of the encounter, police arrived at Domin’s apartment on New Year’s Eve to serve a warrant for the protection order violation linked to the arson incident, at which point he refused to surrender.

As a New Year’s Eve fireworks display popped off at the base of Steamboat Resort, a tactical team used rounds of gas munitions and a percussion grenade before entering the apartment and taking Domin into custody.

The sequence of arrests in December came less than a year after Domin pleaded guilty to one count of felony stalking in February 2023. That case originally included 13 felony charges against Domin, who was arrested July 13, 2022.

The stalking charges stemmed from an investigation that began with a tip from U.S. Secret Service agents who reported to Steamboat police that Domin had threatened “a former high-ranking politician.” Officers later learned that FBI agents were also looking into threats allegedly made by Domin.

When officers arrested Domin on the stalking charges, they seized 13 firearms, including four assault-style rifles, seven handguns, two shotguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition and more than 100 loaded magazines.

Domin’s guilty plea in February 2023 saw him convicted of only one of the stalking charges — which involved eight individuals, including family members.

As part of that plea agreement, he was sentenced to three years of supervised probation with a deferred judgement and sentence, along with the possibility to participate in inpatient treatment as a special condition.

Steamboat Springs police arrested Daniel Domin in July 2022 on stalking charges and reported confiscating 13 guns — including four AR-15s, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Steamboat Springs Police Department/Courtesy photo

Following Domin’s December arrests for setting fire to his neighbor’s truck, violating a protection order and engaging in a standoff with police, prosecutors with the 14th Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to revoke Domin’s probation and deferred judgement in the stalking case.

The court also learned of a Dec. 17 incident in which Fruita police reportedly found Domin in possession of a Glock 9 millimeter handgun. Under U.S. and Colorado laws, any person convicted of a felony is barred from possessing a firearm.

Before entering a guilty plea and being sentenced last week, Domin, who remained in Routt County Jail on a $610,000 bond after his New Year’s Eve arrest, underwent two competency evaluations ordered by the court at the request of public defender Abby Kurtz-Phelan, who represented Domin.

The evaluations found Domin competent to face the charges against him, and the court ordered the cases to proceed in a ruling handed down June 17. Domin pleaded guilty on July 10.

A request for comment from the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office in Steamboat Springs was not returned Monday.

In addition to the prison sentence handed down by Judge O’Hara III on Friday, Domin also faces a two-year mandatory parole period upon his release and he must pay the city of Steamboat Springs $2,000 in restitution, as well as restitution to the victim of the arson.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that 14th Judicial District Court Judge Michael O’Hara issued the sentence.


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