Peo v. Sanchez

CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 15, 2026
Docket23CA0798
StatusUnpublished

This text of Peo v. Sanchez (Peo v. Sanchez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peo v. Sanchez, (Colo. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

23CA0798 Peo v Sanchez 01-15-2026

COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS

Court of Appeals No. 23CA0798 Adams County District Court No. 22CR1589 Honorable Patrick H. Pugh, Judge

The People of the State of Colorado,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

Joshua Larry Sanchez,

Defendant-Appellant.

JUDGMENT AFFIRMED

Division VII Opinion by JUDGE MOULTRIE Tow and Lum, JJ., concur

NOT PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO C.A.R. 35(e) Announced January 15, 2026

Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, Caitlin E. Grant, Assistant Attorney General, Megan Ryan Machak, Assistant Attorney General Fellow, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee

Megan A. Ring, Colorado State Public Defender, Madeline Dobkin, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant ¶1 Defendant, Joshua Larry Sanchez, appeals the judgment of

conviction entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of second

degree burglary, theft, and possession of an illegal weapon. We

affirm.

I. Background

¶2 The following factual background reflects evidence the jury

heard at trial.

¶3 On May 18, 2022, Tiffany Gonzales arrived home in the middle

of the day and heard noises coming from the basement. Gonzales

thought the noises might have been from her stepfather, with whom

she lived, and she called out to see if he was home before she

realized he was already at work. Gonzales then saw an unknown

man walk up the basement stairs, grab a black backpack, and exit

the house into the backyard. After the man jumped a gate in the

backyard, Gonzales got in her car to follow him. While driving

behind the man, Gonzales called 911 to report the incident. She

followed the man down the street until he jumped over a fence and

appeared to enter a backyard. Gonzales returned home to meet

with sheriff’s deputies who were responding to her 911 call.

1 ¶4 Deputy Alexander Lofgren walked through Gonzales’s home

with her to see if anything had been stolen. While Deputy Lofgren

was conducting the walk-through with Gonzales, other deputies

searched the neighborhood but didn’t find or arrest anyone in

connection with the burglary.

¶5 During the walk-through, Gonzales noticed that each floor of

her home had drawers open, papers on the floor, and “things . . .

not the way [she] left them.” Gonzales also saw two bags near the

garage door that contained items from throughout her home —

electronics, an old ID, money, and cords. Gonzales stated that the

bags weren’t there when she left her house earlier that day.

Although Gonzales didn’t report any items missing at that time,

about a week later she noticed her spare car key and two charm

bracelets were missing. She called the sheriff’s office to report the

missing items.

¶6 One week after the burglary, Gonzales was outside her home

speaking with a neighbor about the burglary when she saw a man

walk down the street and enter a house. She believed that the man

was the same person whom she had seen the prior week in her

home, so she called 911.

2 ¶7 After deputies arrived at Gonzales’s residence, a couple of

deputies went to the house that Gonzales had seen the man enter.

As deputies approached that house, they saw the man walking

down the driveway. The man matched the description that

Gonzales had provided, so deputies detained him for investigative

purposes.

¶8 Deputy Jared Cantor remained with Gonzales while the other

deputies contacted the man. After the other deputies detained the

man, and before the show-up identification procedure began,

Deputy Cantor read Gonzales the six admonitions required under

section 16-1-110(3)(d)(I)(A)-(F), C.R.S. 2025.

¶9 The deputies who had detained the man described that they

took the man out of handcuffs, walked him away from their patrol

cars, and stepped about ten feet away from the man so that

Gonzales would have a clear view of him. Deputy Cantor then drove

Gonzales past the man in his patrol car and asked her if she could

identify him. Gonzales twice confirmed to Deputy Cantor that she

was “100% confident” that the man with the other deputies was the

same man whom she had seen in her home on May 18.

3 ¶ 10 Deputies arrested the man, who was later identified as

Sanchez, and placed him into custody. The deputies also took

Sanchez’s backpack and processed the contents, which contained

brass knuckles. Ultimately, the prosecution filed a complaint

charging Sanchez with second degree burglary, theft, and

possession of an illegal weapon.

II. Procedural History

¶ 11 Sanchez filed a motion to suppress Gonzales’s identification of

him, asserting that the show-up identification procedure was

impermissibly suggestive and violated his right to due process. The

district court held a hearing and concluded that the show-up

identification wasn’t “so impermissibly suggestive or extremely

unfair that it should be excluded as a violation of due process

rights.” The court thus denied the motion to suppress.

¶ 12 The day before trial, Sanchez sought to sever the possession of

an illegal weapon charge from the other charges. Sanchez argued

in the alternative that the court should bifurcate the trial. The

court denied the motion.

¶ 13 A jury found Sanchez guilty of all three charges. Sanchez

appeals his judgment of conviction, asserting that the court erred

4 by admitting evidence of the show-up identification and denying his

motion to sever or bifurcate the weapon charge from the other two

charges. Sanchez also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence for

the theft conviction.

III. The Show-Up Identification Wasn’t Impermissibly Suggestive

A. Additional Background

¶ 14 Defense counsel called Deputy Cantor as a witness at the

suppression hearing to testify about the show-up identification

procedure that the deputies conducted on May 25. Deputy Cantor

testified that he carries a show-up identification procedure card,

which lists six admonitions to be given to witnesses on one side and

the sheriff’s office’s policies on the other side.

¶ 15 One of the policies listed on the card says, “The officer shall

photograph or video the subject and the show-up location at the

time of that identification. If there is a body cam, the entire

procedure shall be recorded, including admonition given to the

witness.” Deputy Cantor testified that he didn’t record the show-up

procedure “due to safety reasons” because “[he wasn’t] going to

drive and hold a camera.” He also testified that the sheriff’s office

5 didn’t receive body worn cameras until several months after the

show-up identification that occurred in this case.

¶ 16 Deputy Cantor, describing the circumstances of the show-up

identification, said that Gonzales sat in the back of his patrol car

while he slowly drove past Sanchez, who was standing at the edge

of the curb by himself, unhandcuffed. He said that deputies were

standing to the right side of Sanchez, about ten feet away from him.

Deputy Cantor couldn’t remember where Sanchez’s backpack was.

He also couldn’t remember where the other deputies’ patrol cars

were, but he did recall that the cars weren’t close to Sanchez and

didn’t obstruct Gonzales’s view. And he confirmed that the

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Peo v. Sanchez, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peo-v-sanchez-coloctapp-2026.