People v. Perez

2016 CO 12, 367 P.3d 695, 2016 WL 768156
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedFebruary 29, 2016
DocketSupreme Court Case No. 13SC465
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 2016 CO 12 (People v. Perez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Perez, 2016 CO 12, 367 P.3d 695, 2016 WL 768156 (Colo. 2016).

Opinion

CHIEF JUSTICE RICE

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

] 1 In this case, we examine the applicability of the culpable mental state, "knowingly," to the elements of identity theft found in section 18-5-902, C.R.S. (2015) We hold that, to be guilty of identity theft, an offender must have used the identifying information of another person with, knowledge that the information belonged to an actual person. We also evaluate the trial record in this case to determine whether the evidence supported the jury's conclusion that the respondent, Eduardo Dejesus Perez, was aware that the Social Security number he used belonged to an actual person. We conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support Perez's conviction.

I. Facts and Procedural History

[ 2 In 2010, Perez was convicted of identity theft and criminal impersonation for using another person's Social Security number to obtain employment, The evidence showed that the owner of the Social Security number that Perez used was unemployed and receiving government assistance, The victim's caseworker told her that she risked losing her benefits, or suffering other penalties, because she was receiving income from a barbeque restaurant. But the victim was not employed at the restaurant. She then informed the police that she believed someone else was using her Social Security number.

T3 The Colorado Department of Labor provided the police a list of employers who had reported income under the victim's Social Security number during the preceding five years. The list consisted of six restaurants. At trial, the victim testified that she had never worked at any of these restaurants. The investigator called the most recent employer listed-the barbecue restaurant. The restaurant manager confirmed that an employee was using the victim's Social Security number. When the detective went to the restaurant, the manager showed him Perez's employment application, tax documents, and a copy of the Social Security card that Perez had provided when he began working. All these documents listed the vic[697]*697tim's Social Security number. The detective arrested Perez.

14 At trial, the victim, the investigating detective, and the restaurant manager testified. An investigator from the Colorado Department of Labor's Fraud Investigation Unit also testified, discussing the wage inquiry he had prepared regarding the victim's Social Security number. Perez did not testify or call any witnesses.

1.5 At the cloge of evidence, Perez moved for judgment of acquittal on both counts, arguing that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to support the charges. Perez contended that the prosecution failed to prove that he knew the Social Security number belonged to an- actual person, when he could have believed that the number was fabricated. The trial court agreed that the prosecution must prove that Perez knew the number belonged to an actual person. However, after discussing the evidence and the reasonable inferences that could be 'drawn from the evidence, the court denied Perez's motion for a judgment of acquittal. The trial court instructed the jury that, in order to convict Perez, it must find that he "knowingly used the personal identifying information of another person, without permission or lawful authority." "The jury convicted Perez on both charges, and Perez appealed.

1 6 The court of appeals concluded that the identity-theft statute requires an offender to know that the Social Security number he used belonged to an actual person. People v. Perez, 2013 COA 65, ¶¶ 15, 33, — P.3d —. Turning to the question of the sufficiency of the evidence, the court of. appeals disagreed with the potential inferences that could have supported that conclusion. Id. at ¶¶ 40-50. The court of appeals denied that a rational juror could have concluded that Perez's repeated use of the Social Security number-with as many as six different employers over five years-suggested that Perez knew the number belonged to an actual person. Id. at ¶¶ 43-47." It was also concerned by what it saw as a lack of direct evidence concerning how Perez obtained the victim's Social Seeu-rity number and whether Perez knew that a valid Social Security number was required for him to receive wages. Id. at ¶¶ 40-42. The court of appeals thus concluded that the evidence was 'nsufficient to support the jury's determination that Perez knew that the Social Security number he was using belonged to an actual person Id. at ¶ 38, 51.

T7 The People petitioried for certiorari. We granted certiorari to consider whether Colorado's identity-theft statute, section 18-5-902, requires proof that the offender knew the information he exploited belonged to an actual person, and whether the evidence in this case supported Perez's conviction.1

II, Standard of Review

T8 This case raises issues of both statutory interpretation and sufficiency of the evidence. We review questions of statutory interpretation de novo. People v. Cross 127 P.3d 71, 73 (Colo.2006). For a sufficiency of the evidence claim, we review the record de novo to determine whether the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was both "substantial and sufficient" to support the conclusion by a reasonable mind that the defendant was "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." Dempsey v. People, 117 P.3d 800, 807 (Colo.2005); People v. Bennett, 183 Colo. 125, 515 P.2d 466, 469 (1973).

III. Analysis

[ 9 We begin with the statutory interpretation question. We hold that section 18-5-902 requires the People to prove that an offender knew that the identifying information that he used belonged to another person. We next assess whether sufficient evidence supported Perez's conviction. Because we find that the record supported multiple reasonable inferences that could lead to the conclusion that [698]*698Perez knew that, the Social Secumty number he was using belonged to. another person, we hold that a reasonable jury could conclude that Perez was guilty of identity theft 'beyond a reasonable doubt,

A. To Commit Identity Theft, an Offender Must Have Known That the Identifying Information Belonged to Another Person.

110 The People first argue that the identity-theft statute, section 18-5-902, requires proof only that the defendant knowingly used identifying information that belonged to another person and that it does not matter whether the defendant knew that the information belonged to another person.2 We disagree.

{11 The General Assembly has set forth the way in which it intends mens rea provisions to be read in criminal statutes. More specifically, section 18-1-508(4), CRS. (2015), provides that, "[when a statute defining an offense prescribes as an element thereof a specified culpable mental state, that mental state is deemed to apply to every element of the offense unless an 1ntent to limit its application clearly appears." Thus, as applied here, "knowingly" will apply to the element that the identifying information belonged to another person unless a contrary intention clearly appears. We see no such clear contrary intention,

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Bluebook (online)
2016 CO 12, 367 P.3d 695, 2016 WL 768156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-perez-colo-2016.