People v. Herdman

2012 COA 89, 310 P.3d 170, 2012 WL 2045733, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 920
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 7, 2012
DocketNo. 08CA1374
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 2012 COA 89 (People v. Herdman) 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. Herdman, 2012 COA 89, 310 P.3d 170, 2012 WL 2045733, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 920 (Colo. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge GABRIEL.

{1 Defendant, Robert Herdman, appeals his judgment of conviction for sexual assault, second degree kidnapping, and a crime of violence sentence enhancer. We conclude that (1) the trial court did not reversibly err in admitting the evidence obtained from Herdman's court-ordered mental health examinations, nor did the admission of such evidence violate Herdman's privilege against self-incrimination; (2) an Army sergeant's testimony did not prejudicially violate eviden-tiary and discovery rules so as to warrant reversal of Herdman's convictions; (8) there was no cumulative error; (4) there was sufficient evidence to support Herdman's sex assault and crime of violence convictions; and (5) Herdman's convictions for sex assault and kidnapping did not violate double jeopardy. We further conclude, however, that a remand is necessary (1) to correct the mittimus to reflect the actual sentence on Herdman's kidnapping conviction and to clarify the manner in which parole is to be determined, and (2) to allow the trial court the opportunity to determine the amount of presentence confinement eredit to which Herdman is entitled.

I. Background

[ 2 In January 2008, Herdman, a private in the United States Army stationed at Fort Carson, began taking an anti-malarial drug called Lariam, in preparation for his deployment to Iraq. At the time, the Army was [174]*174unaware that Lariam could cause psychological side effects.

T3 In April 2003, Herdman was deployed to the Middle East. Shortly thereafter, however, he developed appendicitis, and, after undergoing an emergency appendectomy, he was sent back to Fort Carson on medical leave.

T4 Subsequently, Herdman missed physical training and work details. He also used crack cocaine. A military psychologist diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his service in Iraq and recommended that his duties be changed and that he be placed on a medical hold. His superiors refused, however, believing that he was malingering.

T5 On July 31, 2003, the victim was driving to the gym from her apartment when Herdman waved her down. She stopped and let him into the car after he claimed that he needed a ride to get to his girlfriend, who was in trouble. He then pulled out a knife and said, "Do what I want or I'm going to eut you." The victim looked over and saw the knife in. Herdman's lap. He then directed the victim to drive back to the apartment complex. When they arrived, he pulled her out of the car and into an apartment. Once they were in the apartment, he smoked or snorted some white powder, ordered the vie-tim into the bedroom, and then sexually assaulted her. During the assault, the knife was on the bed stand, where the vietim could see it.

16 Herdman was subsequently charged with sexual assault, second degree kidnapping, and a crime of violence sentence enhancer. As pertinent here, he ultimately underwent the following court-ordered mental health examinations:

e After Herdman filed a notice, pursuant to section 16-8-107(8)(b), C.R.S.2011, of his intent to introduce evidence concerning his mental condition, he was examined by the first doctor. This doctor did not ultimately testify at trial. Herdman was found incompetent to stand trial and was institutionalized.
@ Thereafter, Herdman sought to be released on bond and was evaluated by a second doctor (the bond examiner), who was appointed by the court to assess Herdman's risk to society and flight risk if he were released on bond. This examiner concluded that Herdman's restoration to competency would be more safely and effectively done as an inpatient in an institution, and the court entered an order committing Herdman accordingly.
@ While institutionalized, Herdman continued undergoing treatment, during which a third doctor (the competency examiner) performed ongoing competency evaluations. Herdman was ultimately restored to competency.
® Thereafter, Herdman changed his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity, which resulted in his being examined by a fourth doctor (the sanity examiner), pursuant to section 16-8-108.7(2), C.R.S. 2011. This examiner concluded that Herdman was not legally insane at the time of the offense.

T7 Subsequently, Herdman withdrew his insanity plea, entered a not guilty plea, and provided notice of his intent to raise the affirmative defense of involuntary intoxication, based on the psychological effects of Lariam. He then designated experts to opine, among other things, that Lariam had caused him to become psychotic and that he had committed the assault while he was unable to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. © $

"I 8 Thereafter, the court conducted a hearing at which Herdman expressed concern that the prosecution had not identified the experts whom it intended to call to rebut the opinions of his designated experts. The prosecution responded that, at trial, it intended to rebut Herdman's defense of involuntary intoxication with the previously provided opinions of, among others, the bond examiner, the competency examiner, and the sanity examiner, all of whom the prosecutor identified by name. Herdman moved to suppress these experts' opinions, arguing that the admission of this evidence would violate section 16-8-107, C.R.S.2011, but the trial court denied the motion.

T9 The case proceeded to trial, and, as pertinent here, the bond examiner, the com[175]*175petency examiner, and the sanity examiner collectively testified, in substance, that Herd-man's psychological problems were not caused by PTSD or Lariam use, but rather resulted from his cocaine use, psychopathy, narcissism, and malingering, among other things. The experts further testified that Herdman showed no empathy or remorse for the victim. Herdman objected to some, but not all, of this testimony.

" 10 In addition, one of Herdman's superiors, Sergeant Gallegos, testified, among other things, that Herdman never served in Iraq, did not have PTSD but rather was trying to "play the system" to avoid going back to Iraq, and was "going through a trend of being rebellious." Again, Herdman objected to some, but not all, of this testimony.

{11 The jury convicted Herdman as charged, and he now appeals, raising various statutory, evidentiary, and constitutional issues.

II. Applicable Standards of Review

12 Statutory interpretation is a question of law that we review de novo. People v. Daniels, 240 P.3d 409, 411 (Colo.App.2009). Our primary purpose in statutory interpretation is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the General Assembly. Id. We first look to the language of the statute, giving words and phrases their plain and ordinary meaning. Id. We read words and phrases in context and construe them according to their common usage. Id.

€ 13 In addition, we must interpret a statute in a way that best effectuates the purpose of the legislative scheme. Id. When a court construes a statute, it should read and consider the statute as a whole and interpret it in a manner giving consistent, harmonious, and sensible effect to all of its parts. Id. In doing so, a court should not interpret the statute so as to render any part of it either meaningless or absurd. Id. If the statute is unambiguous, we look no further. Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2012 COA 89, 310 P.3d 170, 2012 WL 2045733, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 920, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-herdman-coloctapp-2012.