Charles, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, worked in international tax as a CPA for Arthur Andersen and Price Waterhouse for ten years. Charles then went on to graduate from the University of Denver College Of Law and joined the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender where he practiced as a criminal defense trial attorney for twenty five years. Charles retired in 2007 as the Office Head for the Denver Office of the Colorado State Public Defender.

In 2007 Charles taught constitutional and comparative law in Ukraine with the Center for International Studies based in Austria and in 2009 worked with the Center for Education in Law and Democracy in the Dominican Republic. He teaches at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

Charles sits on the Colorado Supreme Court Judicial Advisory Council, the Access to Justice Commission, the Governor’s Community Corrections Advisory Council and the Colorado Criminal and Juvenile Justice Commission Sentencing Task Force. He is the Chair of the Denver Crime Prevention and Control Commission (CPCC). Charles is currently Special Counsel to the Governor of Colorado.