People v. Cordova

293 P.3d 114, 2011 WL 4837497, 2011 Colo. App. LEXIS 1636
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 13, 2011
DocketNo. 08CA1174
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 293 P.3d 114 (People v. Cordova) 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 v. Cordova, 293 P.3d 114, 2011 WL 4837497, 2011 Colo. App. LEXIS 1636 (Colo. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge CARPARELLL

Defendant, Paul Bernard Cordova, appeals the judgment of conviction entered upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of two counts of attempted first degree murder, two counts of first degree assault, and harassment. We affirm.

I. Background

On June 9, 2007, two men suffered lacerations in a fight with defendant and his friend. Defendant fled, and an arrest warrant was issued. On June 20, 2007, police stopped defendant's SUV, arrested him, searched him and his vehicle, and found, among other things, eleven knives.

Before his trial, defendant moved to suppress the knives, arguing they were not relevant for a purpose other than to prove bad [117]*117character, and, in the alternative, that any probative value was outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice because the evidence was inadmissible character evidence. The court denied the motion. A jury found defendant guilty of the above charges.

II. The Knives

Defendant contends the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress the knives found on his person and in his SUV. We disagree.

We first describe the proceedings in the trial court, then address defendant's relevance and constitutional arguments in turn.

A. Trial Court Proceedings

Defendant moved to exclude all evidence found on his person and in his SUV when he was arrested. He asserted that evidence of his possession of the knives was not relevant because there was no forensic testing connecting them to the charges. Defendant argued that the evidence had no probative value other than to show a character trait, and, thus, the evidence was unfairly prejudicial and inadmissible. Although defendant captioned his motion as one to suppress evidence, the motion did not contest the legality of the searches or seizures. Consequently, the court properly treated it as a motion in limine to exclude evidence.

At the motions hearing, the prosecution elicited testimony showing that, upon defendant's arrest, the officers found a folding knife in his pocket and ten other knives in his SUV. Defense counsel told the court, "There's no reason to suppress [the knives, marijuana, and a seale] for the purpose of-of [an improper] search clearly." His sole argument was that, absent forensic evidence connecting the knives to the crime, the knives and other items were not relevant for a purpose other than to prove bad character, had no probative value, and were highly prejudicial.

The court denied the motion. The court first noted that there was evidence that "the victim was stabbed by means of a knife" and that defendant was found with a knife on his person. The court then concluded that the probative value of the knives found on defendant and in his SUV outweighed their prejudicial effect. Although neither party addressed the constitutionality of the vehicle search, the trial court also found that it was valid either as a search incident to arrest or as an inventory search.

At trial, the prosecution introduced a surveillance video that shows the four men fighting, but does not show who inflicted the cuts on the victims. The prosecution also elicited detailed testimony about the traffic stop, the arrest, and the vehicle search, and introduced the knives into evidence. Defendant testified that he did not have a knife or other weapon on him the night of the stabbing. He also testified that the knives found in his SUV the night of the arrest were part of his long-standing collection.

During closing argument, the prosecutor asserted that the assailant likely used a small knife to inflict the cuts on the victims. The prosecutor's argument did not imply that defendant's possession of the knives evinced a character trait or that defendant had any tendency to assault people with knives.

Defendant argued that he had not stabbed the victims, and implied that his friend must have done so. The prosecution argued the small knives found in defendant's SUV during his arrest showed he must have used a small knife, similar to those found in his vehicle.

During rebuttal argument, the prosecution told the jury that although defendant testified that he could not have committed the crime because he did not have a weapon on him, "We know the Defendant had a folding knife on his person and ten other knives in his car when he was arrested some two weeks later."

B. Relevance

Defendant contends that the knives were irrelevant and highly prejudicial, and that the trial court erred when it did not exclude them. We disagree.

1. Standard of Review

We reject defendant's attempt to frame the admission of the knives as a viola[118]*118tion of due process, and, thereby, to have the court's evidentiary ruling reviewed for constitutional harmless error. "[Vlirtually any trial error capable of prejudicing a criminal defendant could in some sense be characterized as affecting [the defendant's] right to a fair trial...." Crider v. People, 186 P.3d 39, 42 (Colo.2008). However, neither the Colorado Supreme Court nor the United States Supreme Court has ever designated broad categories of error as error of constitutional magnitude. Id.

C.AR. 28(F) requires the party raising an issue on appeal to provide, under a separate heading, a concise statement of the applicable standard of appellate review with citation to authority, and a citation to the precise location in the record where the issue was raised and ruled on. Here, defendant contends that we should review de novo the admission of the knives as a denial of his due process right to a fair trial by an impartial jury, and, upon concluding that his due process rights were violated, review the error to determine whether the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. He does not, however, provide a citation to the record where he raised a due process violation regarding admission of the evidence or where the court ruled based on due process. Nor does he cite to his motion to exelude the knives on grounds of relevance, inadmissible evidence of character, and prejudice. The motion did not assert a violation of due process.

Nor does defendant cite any Colorado case holding that a relevance objection preserves a due process claim, that the rejection of such an objection must be reviewed for constitutional error, or that the admission of irrelevant evidence necessarily violates due process.

Because defendant does not present an argument supporting a due process review, we could only address the contention based on a hypothetical construction of what defendant's due process argument might be. We decline to do so.

We review a trial court's evidentiary ruling for an abuse of discretion. A trial court abuses its discretion if its ruling is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair. People v. Stewart, 55 P.3d 107, 122 (Colo.2002) (citing People v. Ibarra, 849 P.2d 33, 38 (Colo.1993)). The trial court has considerable discretion to determine the relevancy, admissibility, probative value, and prejudicial impact of evidence. Ibarra, 849 P.2d at 38.

2. CRE 402

All relevant evidence is admissible unless otherwise excluded by constitution, statute, or rule. CRE 402; People v. Rath, 44 P.3d 1033, 1038 (Colo.2002).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Peo v. Spain
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2026
Peo v. Duran
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2026
Peo v. Demiter
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2025
Peo v. Phan
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2025
Peo v. Watkins
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2025
Peo v. Peters
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2025
Peo v. Nelson
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2024
Peo v. Barkers
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2024
Peo v. Talamantes
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2022
Phillips v. People
2019 CO 72 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2019)
People v. Gwinn
2018 COA 130 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2018)
People v. Coleman
422 P.3d 629 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2018)
v. Kessler
2018 COA 60 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2018)
People v. Fortson
2018 COA 46 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2018)
People v. Lewis
433 P.3d 70 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2017)
People v. Tardif
433 P.3d 60 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2017)
People v. Carian
2017 COA 106 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2017)
State v. Cheever - (
Supreme Court of Kansas, 2017
People v. Higgins
2017 COA 57 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2017)
People v. Leverton
2017 COA 34 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
293 P.3d 114, 2011 WL 4837497, 2011 Colo. App. LEXIS 1636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-cordova-coloctapp-2011.