People v. Perez-Hernandez

2013 COA 160, 348 P.3d 451, 2013 WL 6354595, 2013 Colo. App. LEXIS 1869
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 5, 2013
DocketCourt of Appeals No. 08CA1701
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 2013 COA 160 (People v. Perez-Hernandez) 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. Perez-Hernandez, 2013 COA 160, 348 P.3d 451, 2013 WL 6354595, 2013 Colo. App. LEXIS 1869 (Colo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Opinion by

JUDGE CARPARELLI

T1 Defendant Ruben Perez-Hernandez was seventeen years old when the District Attorney's Office for the 18th Judicial District direct filed three felony and one misdemeanor charges against him in district court. Defendant contends that he had a liberty interest in being tried as a juvenile, and that due process required that he receive notice and a hearing before the prosecutor direct filed. On these premises, he contends that Ch. 122, see. 6, § 19-2-517, 2006 Colo. Sess. Laws 422, the direct file statute in effect when he was charged (the former direct file statute) was unconstitutionally applied in his ease and is unconstitutional on its face. Although the direct file statute has since been revised, defendant's contentions present issues that are of continuing relevance to juveniles' due process rights and the sufficiency of the charges.

{ 2 Defendant also contends that the information that initiated the adult eriminal proceedings against him was not sufficient to establish jurisdiction in district court, and that the court erred when it (1) did not require the prosecution to elect among alleged. acts of possessing burglary tools and (2) declined to give a unanimity instruction. We affirm.

I. Procedural History

13 Defendant was adjudicated a juvenile delinquent in 2004 and 2005 for four delinquent acts, arising out of separate and dis-tinet criminal episodes, each of which would have been a felony if committed by an adult.

14 In August 2007, police apprehended defendant, who was seventeen years old, together with two others, after they had broken into a house and stolen jewelry. With regard to defendant, the district attorney first filed a delinquency petition in juvenile court. She later filed an information in district court, and the juvenile court dismissed the delinquency petition thereafter. The information charged defendant with second de[455]*455gree burglary of a dwelling, conspiracy to commit second degree burglary of a dwelling, possession of burglary tools, and theft of $500 or less.

5 Defendant filed motions challenging the district court's jurisdiction and the constitutionality of the former direct file statute. He argued that the information was insufficient to support a direct filing. The court summarily denied the motions and the case proceeded to a jury trial. The jury found defendant guilty of the charged offenses. The court sentenced defendant as an adult and imposed concurrent sentences of four years in the Department of Corrections (DOC) for burglary, two years for conspiracy, and one year for possession of burglary tools. The court imposed a sentence of six months in jail for the misdemeanor theft conviction, to be served concurrently with the DOC sentences. The court then suspended the sentence on the condition that defendant comply with an immigration hold and any subsequent deportation proceedings.

T6 Before sentencing, defendant filed a motion virtually identical to his pretrial motion challenging the court's jurisdiction. The prosecutor's response was that the district attorney had direct filed on the grounds that defendant was a habitual juvenile offender. The court explained that the prosecutor had argued that defendant had four prior felony adjudications, and "that's exactly what the probation report also indicates." The court then denied the motion.

T 7 On appeal, defendant contends that:

1. the former direct file statute was unconstitutional on its face and as applied to him because it subjected him to adult eriminal prosecution without notice and an opportunity to be heard in violation of his state and federal due process rights;
2. the district court did not have jurisdiction because the information did not allege the basis upon which defendant's juvenile case was "triable" in district court; and
3. the court violated his right to a unanimous verdiet by not requiring the state to elect the act on which it relied for the possession of burglary tools charge and by not instructing the jury that it was required to unanimously agree on the same act.

We address these issues in turn.

IL Constitutionality of the Direct File Statute

18 Defendant contends that the former direct file statute is unconstitutional on its face and as applied to him because it subjected him to adult criminal prosecution without notice and an opportunity to be heard, in violation of his state and federal rights to due process. We disagree.

9 In his motion to declare the direct file statute unconstitutional, defendant argued that the former direct file statute

(1) was unconstitutionally vague;
(2) violated equal protection;
(8) constituted an unconstitutional classification based on age; and
(4) did not provide notice or any procedural mechanism that complied with due process.

Defendant has not presented the first three of these contentions on appeal. We, therefore, deem them abandoned, and address only his contention that the former direct file statute violated his right to due process. People v. Czemerynski, 786 P.2d 1100, 1107 (Colo.1990) (stating that issues not raised in the opening brief are deemed waived).

A. Standard of Review

110 We review the as-applied and facial constitutionality of a statute de novo. Hinojos-Mendoza v. People, 169 P.3d 662, 668 (Colo.2007). Statutes are presumed to be constitutional. People v. McCullough, 6 P.3d 774, 779 (Colo.2000).

111 To succeed with an as-applied challenge, "'a defendant has the burden of establishing the unconstitutionality of a statute, as applied [to him], beyond a reasonable doubt."" People v. DeWitt, 275 P.3d 728, 731 (Colo.App.2011) (quoting People v. Gutierrez, 622 P.2d 547, 555 (Colo.1981)); A statute that is unconstitutionally applied may, nonetheless, be facially valid if there are conceivable cireumstances in which it can be constitu[456]*456tionally applied. Seq, eg., Independence Inst. v. Coffman, 209 P.3d 1130, 1136 (Colo.App.2008) ("As-applied constitutional challenges attempt to invalidate a law only in the cireumstances in which a party has acted or proposes to act; thus, a law that is held invalid as applied is not rendered completely inoperative.").

112 A party challenging the facial validity of a statute must prove that it is unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt. People v. Vasquez, 84 P.3d 1019, 1021-22 (Colo.2004). "A statute is facially unconstitutional only if no conceivable set of cireum-stances exist under which it may be applied in a constitutionally permissible manner." People v. Montour, 157 P.3d 489, 499 (Colo.2007) (citing Woldt v. People, 64 P.3d 256, 266 (Colo.2003)).

B. Due Process

113 The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution guarantee that the government shall not deprive any person of an interest in "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." U.S. Const. amend. V, XIV, § 1.

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Bluebook (online)
2013 COA 160, 348 P.3d 451, 2013 WL 6354595, 2013 Colo. App. LEXIS 1869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-perez-hernandez-coloctapp-2013.