Colorado v. Richardson

184 P.3d 755, 2008 WL 2081534
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedMay 19, 2008
Docket07SA191
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 184 P.3d 755 (Colorado v. Richardson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Colorado v. Richardson, 184 P.3d 755, 2008 WL 2081534 (Colo. 2008).

Opinions

Justice EID

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

We issued a rule to show cause to consider whether the trial court erred by declaring a mistrial when the jury failed to return a verdict on the charge of first-degree murder against Defendant Marvin Richardson. Richardson argues that the mistrial was not manifestly necessary as to the offenses of first- and second-degree murder because the jury unanimously agreed he was not guilty of those offenses and the jury was deadlocked only as to the lesser-included offenses of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Richardson further argues that the trial court should have conducted a partial verdict inquiry before declaring a mistrial, and he offers affidavits from the jurors to support his claim that had a partial verdict inquiry been conducted, the jury would have acquitted him of the offenses of first- and second-degree murder.

We now hold that a mistrial was manifestly necessary because the jury was deadlocked as to the first-degree murder charge. Consequently, double jeopardy does not bar retrial of Richardson on the first-degree murder charge or its lesser-included offenses of second-degree murder, manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide. We further hold that the trial court properly refused Richardson's requests to poll the jury as to the offenses of first- and second-degree murder and to consider the jurors' affidavits as [758]*758evidence of a partial verdict. We therefore discharge the rule to show cause.

I.

While driving a pickup truck on September 11, 2005, Richardson struck and killed his cousin, Ricky Smith. As a result, Richardson was ultimately charged with first-degree murder, vehicular homicide (DUI), and vehicular homicide (reckless). All three charges were submitted to the jury, and lesser-included offenses were also submitted with two of the charges. In particular, the lesser-included offenses of second-degree murder, manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide were submitted with the first-degree murder charge; and the lesser-included offense of careless driving resulting in death was submitted with the vehicular homicide (reckless) charge.

The jury received three verdict forms, one for each charge. The forms containing lesser-included offenses followed the format recommended by the Colorado Jury Instructions, CJI-Crim. 88:07. The relevant portion of the form for first-degree murder reads as follows:

JURY VERDICT
CHARGE OF MURDER IN THE FIRST-DEGREE
I.* We, the jury, find the Defendant, MARVIN RICHARDSON, NOT GUILTY of Murder in the First-degree and the lesser included offenses of Murder in the Second-degree, Manslaughter and Criminally Negligent Homicide against Ricky Smith.
Foreperson
II.* We, the jury, find the Defendant, MARVIN RICHARDSON, GUILTY of;
* *[ ] Murder in the First-degree
* *[] Murder in the Second-degree* ok
* *[ ] Manslaughter
* *[ ] Criminally Negligent Homicide
Foreperson
*The Foreperson should sign only one of the above (I or II). If the verdiet is NOT GUILTY, then I above should be signed. If the verdict is GUILTY, then II above should be signed.
**If you find the Defendant guilty of the crime charged or one of the lesser included offenses the foreman must complete this GUILTY verdict by placing, in ink, an "X" in the appropriate square. ONLY ONE SQUARE may be filled in, with the remainder to remain unmarked.

Thus, while the form permitted the jury to find Richardson not guilty on first-degree murder and the lesser-included offenses of second-degree murder, manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide as a collective matter, there was no place on the form for the jury to return a not-guilty verdict on first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, or criminally negligent homicide as an individual matter. The only individual consideration appeared in the guilty portion of the form, which allowed the jury to find Richardson guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, or criminally negligent homicide. Nothing in the record indicates that Richardson objected to structuring the first-degree murder verdict form in this way.

The jury began deliberations on Tuesday, March 6, 2007. On Friday, March 9th, the jury sent the trial court a note asking, "How long do we continue to deliberate without coming to a consensus? At what point do we become a hung jury?" The court answered, "You should continue to deliberate so long as progress is being made toward a unanimous verdict." Richardson objected to this answer, arguing that the jury should be told it is not a hung jury if the jurors have reached unanimity on any count. The court overruled the objection, stating, "I've not interpreted the question to mean that [the jury has] reached unanimity of anything.... It's simply an inquiry from the jury about what's next and how long should we try."

Later the same day, the jury asked for and received permission to go home for the weekend. The trial court denied Richardson's request for the court to inquire, under People v. Lewis, 676 P.2d 682 (Colo.1984), whether [759]*759the jury was making any progress toward a unanimous verdict, and if not, whether the jury was divided over Richardson's guilt or innocence as to one of the charges, or whether the division only concerned Richardson's degree of guilt. The court based its decision on its conclusion that "[the jury has not expressed any indication that they are a hung jury."

Deliberations resumed the following Monday, March 12th, and the jury sent a note asking, "If we have reached consensus regarding a particular charge but have some people who think the defendant is guilty of a higher charge have we reached unanimity regarding the lesser charge according to the law?" Richardson requested that the trial court provide the following instruction:

You should return a guilty verdict on any lesser included offense, only if all jurors unanimously agree on the defendant's guilt as to the lesser included offense and no juror remains convinced beyond a reasonable doubt by the facts and law that the defendant is guilty of a greater offense submitted for the jury's consideration.

The People, however, objected to this instruction on the ground that it was barred by section 18-1-408(8), C.R.S. (2007),1 because it instructed the jury to convict on a lesser-included offense.

The trial court agreed with the People, stating:

The Court believes that 18-1-408@8) is mandatory in its language and that it prevents the Court from instructing the jury further regarding reaching a consensus on the guilt of the defendant on a lesser charge so long as there is a remaining juror who believes the defendant is guilty of a greater offense and that if the prosecution wishes to prevent any other inquiry of the jury as to lesser included offense, that that statute entitles them to do that.

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Colorado v. Richardson
184 P.3d 755 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2008)

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Bluebook (online)
184 P.3d 755, 2008 WL 2081534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colorado-v-richardson-colo-2008.