People v. Montes-Rodriguez

219 P.3d 340, 2009 Colo. App. LEXIS 321, 2009 WL 540671
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 5, 2009
Docket07CA0578
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 219 P.3d 340 (People v. Montes-Rodriguez) 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. Montes-Rodriguez, 219 P.3d 340, 2009 Colo. App. LEXIS 321, 2009 WL 540671 (Colo. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

Opinion by

Judge CASEBOLT.

Defendant, Felix Montes-Rodriguez, appeals the judgment of conviction entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of eriminal impersonation. We affirm.

After becoming aware that someone was using her Social Security number, the victim ordered a eredit report, which showed that defendant had used it on a credit application for a car loan. When confronted by a detective investigating the victim's complaint, defendant admitted using a false number that had been given to him by a friend. Later, at the police station, defendant made a written statement admitting to having used the number in obtaining employment and a loan for the purchase of a car.

At trial, the finance director from the car dealership testified that he met with defendant and handled the paperwork relating to the loan application. The application for the loan requested numerous forms of identifying information, including name, address, employment status, and Social Security number. Based on the information that defendant had provided, the finance director had extended him credit. Except for the Social Security number, all the information defendant had provided was accurate.

I. Criminal Impersonation

Defendant asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal. He asserts that the prosecution's evidence established conduct that does not constitute eriminal impersonation under seetion 18-5-118(1)(e), C.R.S8.2008. We disagree.

When the trial court rules on a motion for judgment of acquittal, the issue is "whether the relevant evidence, both direct and circumstantial, when viewed as a whole and in the light most favorable to the prosecution, is substantial and sufficient to support a conclusion by a reasonable mind that the defendant is guilty of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt." People v. Gonzales, 666 P.2d 123, 127 (Colo.1983) (quoting People v. Bennett, 183 Colo. 125, 130, 515 P.2d 466, 469 (1973)).

In applying the substantial evidence test, the court must give the prosecution the benefit of every reasonable inference that might fairly be drawn from the evidence. People v. Brassfield, 652 P.2d 588, 592 (Colo.1982).

Section 18-5-118(1), C.R.S.2008, provides, in pertinent part: "A person commits erimi-nal impersonation if he knowingly assumes a false or fictitious identity or capacity, and in such identity or capacity he ... (e) Does any other act with intent to unlawfully gain a benefit for himself or another or to injure or defraud another."

Defendant relies on People v. Jones, 841 P.2d 372 (Colo.App.1992), to support his argument that his use of another person's Social Security number under these cireum-stances does not constitute criminal impersonation. His reliance on that case is misplaced.

The defendant in Jones applied for and received a number of student loans. He applied for all loans using his own proper name, but he transposed portions of his Social Security number. As here, the defendant in Jones was charged with criminal impersonation in violation of section 18-5-118. In finding that proof the defendant used a false Social Security number was not enough to prove he assumed a "false or fictitious identity," the Jones division sug[343]*343gested that the common meaning of that phrase is "to hold oneself out as someone that he or she is not" and "requires the assumption of the identity of another person, whether that other person is real or fictitious." Jones, 841 P.2d at 374.

Here, even if we accept defendant's argument that he did not assume the identity of the victim, that conclusion is not determinative. Jones did not address whether the defendant had assumed a false capacity. One of the common meanings of capacity is legal qualification, competency, power, or fitness. People v. Bauer, 80 P.3d 896, 897 (Colo.App.2003).

Here, the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, indicates that defendant used a Social Security number that he knew was not his own with intent to gain the benefit of a loan to purchase a car. In so doing, defendant knowingly assumed a fictitious capacity. The finance director testified that defendant could not have obtained a loan without providing a Social Security number. By providing a Social Security number, defendant impliedly asserted his power or fitness to obtain the loan, and his ability to work legally in this country, and thereby repay it. Because defendant knew that the information was false, and because he furnished it to obtain a benefit he could not otherwise have obtained, he violated the portion of the statute that prohibits the assumption of a false or fictitious capacity.

Accordingly, we conclude that the evidence is sufficient to support defendant's convietion.

II. Exclusion of Evidence

Defendant asserts that the trial court's rulings excluding his character witness and an exhibit depicting his niece's Social Seeurity number violated his due process right to present a defense. We disagree.

A trial court is accorded considerable discretion in deciding questions concerning the admissibility and relevancy of evidence, its probative value, and any prejudicial impact. We review a trial court's rulings on eviden-tiary issues for an abuse of discretion. A trial court abuses its discretion only when its ruling is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair. People v. Ibarra, 849 P.2d 33, 38 (Colo.1993).

A. Character Witness

CRE 404(a)(1) provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

Character evidence generally. Evidence of a person's character or a trait of his character is not admissible for the purpose of proving that he acted in conformity therewith on a particular occasion, except:
(1) Character of accused. In a criminal case, evidence of a pertinent trait of his character offered by an accused, or by the prosecution to rebut the same....

Courts have interpreted the word "pertinent" to be synonymous with "relevant." People v. Miller, 890 P.2d 84, 91 (Colo.1995). Evidence is relevant when it has any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. CRE 401; People v. Gibbens, 905 P.2d 604, 607 (Colo.1995). Accordingly, whether a character trait is "pertinent" depends upon whether the trait in question would make any fact of consequence to the determination of the case more or less probable than it would be without evidence of the trait. Miller, 890 P.2d at 92.

Section 18-5-113(1) prohibits assuming a "false or fictitious identity or capacity." We agree with defendant that by its nature, the charge of criminal impersonation involves fraud and dishonesty, because assuming a false or fictitious identity or capacity is equivalent to lying about one's identity or status.

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Related

Montes-Rodriguez v. People
241 P.3d 924 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2010)
People v. Davis
312 P.3d 193 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2010)
People v. Montes-Rodriguez
219 P.3d 340 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
219 P.3d 340, 2009 Colo. App. LEXIS 321, 2009 WL 540671, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-montes-rodriguez-coloctapp-2009.