People ex rel. I.S.

415 P.3d 869
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 14, 2017
DocketCourt of Appeals No. 16CA0419
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 415 P.3d 869 (People ex rel. I.S.) 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
People ex rel. I.S., 415 P.3d 869 (Colo. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Opinion by JUDGE HAWTHORNE

¶ 1 This case addresses one of the five criteria under section 16-22-103(5)(a), C.R.S. 2017, that an offender involved in a sex offense must satisfy to be eligible to petition for exemption from sex offender registration. The criterion in question requires that

[t]he offense, as charged in the first petition filed with the court, is a first offense of either misdemeanor unlawful sexual contact, as described in section 18-3-404, C.R.S., or indecent exposure, as described in section 18-7-302, C.R.S.

§ 16-22-103(5)(a)(III).

¶ 2 I.S., a juvenile, was originally charged in a petition in delinquency with three felony counts of sexual assault on a child. Under a plea deal, the prosecution added a fourth misdemeanor count of unlawful sexual contact to its petition, to which I.S. pleaded guilty in return for the three felony counts being dismissed. But because the first petition filed with the court charged I.S. with the three felony counts of sexual assault on a child-not the misdemeanor-the district court ruled that I.S. did not satisfy section 16-22-103(5)(a)(III) and thus must register as a sex offender.

¶ 3 I.S.'s argument presents an issue of first impression: Does the meaning of "the first petition filed with the court" in section 16-22-103(5)(a)(III) encompass later amendments to that first petition? We answer this question no in Part II and affirm.

I. Judicial Notice and Mootness

¶ 4 At his first sentencing, the district court deferred I.S.'s adjudication for two years contingent on I.S. complying with the terms of his probation and ordered him to register as a sex offender. While this appeal was still pending, I.S. violated the terms of his probation. The court revoked his probation in a second sentencing and resentenced him after voiding the first sentence.

¶ 5 The People contend that I.S.'s appeal is moot because his first sentence has been revoked and replaced by a new sentence. To *871support their contention, they point to a "register of actions" appended to their brief that shows I.S.'s first sentence is now "void" and has been replaced by a new sentence. Though this appendix is not part of the record, the People contend that we may take judicial notice of it.

¶ 6 We agree with the People that we may take judicial notice of their appendix. But we disagree that the void status of I.S.'s first sentence moots this appeal.

A. Judicial Notice

¶ 7 Under CRE 201(b), a court may judicially notice facts not subject to reasonable dispute because they are "capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned." This includes "the contents of court records in a related proceeding." People v. Sa'ra , 117 P.3d 51, 56 (Colo. App. 2004). The People's appendix falls into this category.

¶ 8 I.S. argues that, even if we judicially notice the People's appendix, we cannot assume the truth of its contents. He cites to Doyle v. People , 2015 CO 10, 343 P.3d 961, to support his argument. But Doyle involved a trial court judicially noticing a case's "material adjudicative fact" as opposed to "merely taking notice of its own prior finding and the effect of that finding, as reflected in court records." Id. at ¶ 13. By noticing the People's appendix and the district court's finding in it, we recognize the procedural effect of that finding on this appeal, not any material adjudicative effect it might have on the case's merits. So Doyle does not apply.

B. Mootness

¶ 9 An appellate court will generally decline to decide an appeal's merits when later events render the issue moot. Nowak v. Suthers , 2014 CO 14, ¶ 12, 320 P.3d 340. A case is moot when a judgment would have no practical effect on an existing controversy. People v. Abdul , 935 P.2d 4, 6 (Colo. 1997). Because sex offender registration is not an element of a defendant's sentence, it is of no consequence to this appeal that the court later voided I.S.'s first sentence. See People v. Brosh , 2012 COA 216M, ¶ 9, 297 P.3d 1024 ; see also People v. Carbajal , 2012 COA 107, ¶ 37, 312 P.3d 1183. So this division's judgment will have a practical effect on whether I.S. is eligible to be exempted from sex offender registration. Thus, this appeal is not moot.

¶ 10 Still, the People argue that I.S.'s requirement to register may yet have been changed when the court resentenced him. They point to a portion of their appendix where, under the comments to the resentencing court's register of actions, the court stated, "juvenile required to register as sex offender." This language, they argue, suggests I.S. may have been required to register again, thus voiding the court's first sex offender registration order and mooting this appeal.

¶ 11 But nothing from these seven words definitively indicates that the resentencing court reimposed anew I.S.'s requirement to register as a sex offender. Instead, it is just as likely that the district court left its original registration order undisturbed when resentencing I.S. And the People do not explain why the court would have revoked its order requiring I.S. to register only to, within the same breath, require him to register again. Without a sufficient record, we cannot presume from these seven words in the People's appendix that I.S.'s requirement to register has changed since the court's original order. See People v. Duran , 2015 COA 141, ¶ 25, 382 P.3d 1237 (holding that, "[a]bsent proof to the contrary ... we presume the regularity of [the trial court's] proceedings"); see also McClain v. People , 111 Colo. 271, 274, 141 P.2d 685, 686 (1943) ("Where the record is silent the law presumes regularity.").

II. Sex Offender Registration Exemption Eligibility

¶ 12 I.S.

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415 P.3d 869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-is-coloctapp-2017.