People v. Dehmer

931 P.2d 460, 20 Brief Times Rptr. 381, 1996 Colo. App. LEXIS 85, 1996 WL 123187
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 21, 1996
DocketNo. 94CA1178
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 931 P.2d 460 (People v. Dehmer) 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. Dehmer, 931 P.2d 460, 20 Brief Times Rptr. 381, 1996 Colo. App. LEXIS 85, 1996 WL 123187 (Colo. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge ROTHENBERG.

In this consolidated appeal, defendant, John William Dehmer, appeals the judgments of conviction entered following two trials to the court in which he was found guilty of one count of second degree assault and one count of first degree possession of contraband (first trial) and one count of second degree assault (second trial). Defendant contends that in both cases the trial court erred by denying his pre-trial motion to dismiss based on alleged violations of his statutory and constitutional rights to confer privately with counsel. In both cases defendant also appeals the denial of his motion to dismiss for alleged violations of his rights under the Uniform Mandatory Disposition of De-tainers Act (the UMDDA). We affirm.

I.

Defendant first contends that the trial court erred by denying his motion for dismissal. The basis of defendant’s motion was his contention that his statutory and constitutional rights to consult with his attorney in a private setting before trial had been violated. The trial court denied defendant’s motion based on its findings that: (1) no breach or invasion of the attorney-client relationship had occurred; (2) defendant had adequate opportunities for confidential visitation with his attorney; and (3) defendant had failed to show that he was prejudiced by any visitation which had taken place in a non-confidential prison facility. We perceive no error in the trial court’s ruling.

A.

While serving a sentence in a Department of Corrections prison, defendant was charged on September 28, 1993, with one count of second degree assault, one count of first degree possession of contraband, and two habitual criminal counts. The next day, defendant was charged with one count of second degree assault and two habitual criminal [462]*462counts. The court appointed counsel to represent defendant in both cases.

On November 16, 1993, an investigator working on behalf of defense counsel met with defendant at the prison. The next day, defense counsel and the investigator together met with defendant at the prison. Both meetings with defendant were conducted in the prison’s single attorney-client visitation room. The room was enclosed with glass on the upper portions of all sides such that an outside observer could see inside. Prison officials had positioned a video camera approximately six to eight feet away from the glass walls and focused on the seat in the room designated for defendant. Although defense counsel and the defense investigator both requested a more private meeting room and asked that the camera be removed or turned off, prison officials refused.

At the second meeting the defense investigator stood to block the video camera from recording defendant’s face, but prison officials directed him to sit down. Defense counsel then instructed defendant to cover his mouth when speaking and not to gesture.

Defendant filed a motion to obtain the videotape of the second meeting, a motion to prevent prison officials from disclosing any information obtained from observing the meeting, and a motion to transport defendant to the courthouse to conduct a private attorney-client interview.

A hearing was held on defendant’s motions. The prison warden testified that the video camera did not record sound, but that it was possible that prison guards standing nearby the attorney-client visitation room might be able to overhear a person speaking loudly in the room. The warden explained that the video camera and the glass-walled room were both installed for prison security reasons. The court took the motions under advisement and allowed defense counsel to meet with defendant in private at the courthouse at the conclusion of the hearing.

Defendant filed a second motion seeking another attorney-client conference at the courthouse. That motion was granted and, on December 22, 1993, defendant met in complete privacy with his attorney and investigator for approximately two to three hours. During that meeting the three worked at preparing for defendant’s two trials. Neither defendant nor defense counsel expressed any dissatisfaction with the privacy of the location provided for that meeting.

At a January 1994 hearing, the court concluded that, as to defendant, the prison’s policy of video taping attorney-client conferences was unlawful, but that no evidence had been obtained as a result of the intrusion. The court refused to order further visitation at the courthouse, expressing the belief that it was the responsibility of the Department of Corrections to provide a private meeting area.

In February 1994, defendant filed a motion to dismiss charges in both cases alleging interference with the attorney-client relationship in violation of his constitutional and statutory rights. In connection with that motion, on April 27, 1994, defendant filed another motion seeking a confidential attorney-client meeting. On April 28, 1994, the court entered an order which noted that defendant’s motions were based on the November 1993 meeting. The court thus directed defense counsel to attempt a private meeting at the prison to determine if a confidential visitation area had since been made available.

At a May 19, 1994, hearing on defendant’s motion to dismiss, defense counsel testified that the defense investigator had been to the prison in early January 1994, and at that time visitation conditions had remained unchanged. Defense counsel presented no evidence indicating that he had attempted to visit defendant at the prison after the court’s April 1994 order.

On May 27,1994, the court issued an order denying defendant’s motion to dismiss. The court reasoned that, because no conversations at the prison had been recorded or overheard, and because defendant had attended a private meeting with counsel at the courthouse on December 22, 1993, as well as before and after each court hearing, defendant had failed to show any prejudice resulting from the lack of privacy at the prison’s visitation facility.

[463]*463B.

Defendant first asserts that he was entitled to dismissal because his statutory rights under § 16-3-408 and § 16-3^04, C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 8A) were violated.

Section 16-3-403 provides:

Any person committed, imprisoned, or arrested for any cause, whether or not such person is charged with an offense, shall he allowed to consult with an attorney-at-law of this state whom such person desires to see or consult, alone and in private at the place of custody, as many times and for such period each time as is reasonable. Except where extradition proceedings have been completed or are not required by law, when any such person is about to be moved beyond the limits of this state, the person to be moved shall be entitled to a reasonable delay for the purpose of obtaining counsel and of availing himself of the laws of this state for the security of personal liberty.

Section 16-3-404 provides:

(1) All peace officers or persons having in custody any person committed, imprisoned, or arrested for any alleged cause shall forthwith admit any attorney-at-law in this state, upon the demand of the prisoner or of a friend, relative, spouse, or attorney of the prisoner, to see and consult the person so imprisoned, alone and in private, at the jail or other place of custody, if such person so imprisoned expressly consents to see or to consult with the attorney.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
931 P.2d 460, 20 Brief Times Rptr. 381, 1996 Colo. App. LEXIS 85, 1996 WL 123187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-dehmer-coloctapp-1996.