People v. Driggers

812 P.2d 702, 15 Brief Times Rptr. 6, 1991 Colo. App. LEXIS 2, 1991 WL 3772
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 17, 1991
Docket89CA0426
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 812 P.2d 702 (People v. Driggers) 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. Driggers, 812 P.2d 702, 15 Brief Times Rptr. 6, 1991 Colo. App. LEXIS 2, 1991 WL 3772 (Colo. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge TURSI.

Defendant, Matthew Driggers, appeals from judgments of conviction entered on jury verdicts finding him guilty of the charges of second degree murder, first degree felony murder, and aggravated robbery, all of which involved a single victim. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with directions.

I.

Defendant contends that he is entitled to relief from his conviction of two murder counts for a single victim. We agree.

In sequence, the jury returned guilty verdicts of second degree murder (a lesser-included offense to murder by deliberation), first degree felony murder, and aggravated robbery. Judgments of conviction for both second degree murder and first degree felony murder may not be entered when there is but a single victim. People v. Hickam, 684 P.2d 228 (Colo.1984); People v. Kittrell, 786 P.2d 467 (Colo.App.1989). Therefore, one of the murder convictions must be vacated.

II.

Additionally, defendant may not be convicted of felony murder and aggravated robbery when aggravated robbery constitutes the underlying offense upon which the felony murder conviction is predicated. Section 18-1-408(l)(a), C.R.S. (1986 Repl. Vol. 8B); People v. Bartowsheski, 661 P.2d 235 (Colo.1983); People v. Raymer, 626 P.2d 705 (Colo.App.1980), affd, 662 P.2d 1066 (Colo.1983).

*704 III.

However, we reject defendant’s contention that his conviction on the felony murder charge is the one that should be vacated.

Defendant urges us to adopt the “first-in-time” rule applied by Texas state courts and, accordingly, to affirm the conviction for second degree murder. See McIntire v. State, 698 S.W.2d 652 (Tex.Crim.App.1985); Ex parte Easley, 490 S.W.2d 570 (Tex.Crim.App.1972). He contends that because the jury verdict form first listed second degree murder as the crime of which he was found guilty, double jeopardy attached barring the conviction of first degree felony murder of the same victim.

Our supreme court has not decided whether, when multiple charges are contained in a single indictment or information, and multiple convictions are impermis-sibly entered for the murder of a single victim, the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy requires imposition of punishment only for that offense of which the defendant was first found guilty. However, we conclude that the proscription against double jeopardy does not require the imposition of the “first-in-time” rule as remedial safeguard.

Rather, the better-reasoned remedy, when a defendant is convicted of both a greater and lesser offense, is that the conviction of the lesser offense should be vacated and the conviction of the greater offense should be affirmed. See People v. Jankowski, 408 Mich. 79, 289 N.W.2d 674 (1980); People v. Davis, 122 Mich.App. 597, 333 N.W.2d 99 (1983).

This remedy “protects against multiple punishments for the same offense.” North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969); People v. Lowe, 660 P.2d 1261 (Colo.1983). Additionally, it gives maximum effect to the jury’s resolution of the issues, See People v. Bar-towsheski, supra, and to the General Assembly’s intent to punish severely the crime of felony murder. See People v. Morgan, 637 P.2d 338 (1981).

This rule has been implicitly adopted in Colorado. See People v. O’Neill, 803 P.2d 164 (Colo.1990); People v. Saathoff, 790 P.2d 804 (Colo.1990); People v. Bartowsheski, supra; People v. Lowe, supra (When convictions are imposed on multiple first degree murder counts, the convictions imposing the maximum penalties upon the defendant are sustained and the alternate convictions are vacated).

And, it has specifically been followed in situations in which, as here, a defendant has been convicted of first degree felony murder and second degree murder of a single victim. People v. Hiekam, supra; People v. Kittrell, supra; People v. Horton, 683 P.2d 358 (Colo. app.1984) (Convictions on felony murder sustained while second degree murder convictions vacated).

Accordingly, the judgment of conviction on the second degree murder and aggravated robbery charges must be vacated, and the conviction on first degree felony murder will be affirmed.

IV.

Defendant also contends that felony murder conviction must be reversed because the jury instruction concerning aggravated robbery, the underlying felony, was prejudicial in that it varied from the charge set forth in the information and, thus, denied him notice of the charges. We find no error.

The information charged defendant with commission of one count of aggravated robbery pursuant to § 18-4-302, C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 8B). It did not specify the subsection with which defendant was charged; however, it set forth the elements of § 18-4-302(1), C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 3B), and one of the two alternate methods by which crime of aggravated robbery may be committed pursuant to § 18-4-302(l)(b), C.R.S. (1986 Repl.Vol. 3B). Specifically, defendant was charged with “knowingly put[ting the victim] and any other person in reasonable fear of death and bodily injury.”

At the close of evidence, the trial court submitted an instruction to the jury compa- *705 rabie to one which had been tendered by defendant. The instruction set forth the alternate means of committing aggravated robbery pursuant to § 18-4-302(l)(b) con-junctively, and instructing the jury to determine defendant’s guilt or innocence by establishing whether he “knowingly wounded or struck the person robbed, or any other person, with a deadly weapon.” At no time did the prosecution move to amend the information to include comprehensive statutory language.

We conclude that the charge to the jury was not plain error. Crim.P. 52(b). The language of the information tracked § 18-4-302(l)(b) of the aggravated robbery statute.

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812 P.2d 702, 15 Brief Times Rptr. 6, 1991 Colo. App. LEXIS 2, 1991 WL 3772, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-driggers-coloctapp-1991.