People v. Ramos

417 P.3d 902
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 27, 2017
DocketCourt of Appeals No. 15CA1955
StatusPublished

This text of 417 P.3d 902 (People v. Ramos) 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. Ramos, 417 P.3d 902 (Colo. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Opinion by JUDGE HAWTHORNE

¶ 1 Defendant, Angelita Sue Ramos, appeals her conviction for theft. Her argument presents an issue of first impression: Is the prosecution required to prove all thefts aggregated and charged in a single count under section 18-4-401(4)(a), C.R.S. 2016, to obtain a conviction? We answer this question yes in Part III, vacate the conviction, and remand with directions to enter a judgment of conviction on a lesser included offense.

I. Facts

¶ 2 Defendant was the treasurer of the Bennett Elementary School Parent, Teacher, and Student Association (PTSA). In 2013, the PTSA held the Believe Fundraiser, which involved students selling items from a catalogue. Defendant deposited the proceeds from these sales into the PTSA's bank account. After the fundraiser, the PTSA secretary *905asked defendant how much money she had deposited into the organization's bank account. Defendant responded by text message that she had deposited $19,760.65. The secretary later discovered that only $16,473.21 had actually been deposited. When asked about the discrepancy, defendant said, "I'm so sorry this happened. Is there any way I can make it right?"

¶ 3 Defendant was charged with seven counts of theft and seven counts of forgery. She was acquitted of all charges except for Count 5-Theft (two or more within six months).

¶ 4 The verdict form for Count 5 required the jury to find whether defendant was guilty of "Theft (two or more within six months)" for cash taken from three different fundraisers and instructed the jury to then answer three interrogatories:

1. Did the defendant commit theft of money from the Fall 2013 Believe
Fundraiser? _____ Yes _____ No
2. Did the defendant commit theft of money from the October 2013
Scholastic Book Fair? _____ Yes _____ No
3. Did the defendant commit theft of money from the December
2013 Santa Workshop? _____ Yes _____ No

¶ 5 The jury found defendant guilty of Count 5, but it answered yes to only the Believe Fundraiser interrogatory. The court sentenced her to eighteen months of probation and ordered her to pay $3850.57 in restitution.

II. Sufficiency of the Evidence

¶ 6 Defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to convict her of theft from the Believe Fundraiser. We disagree.

A. Standard of Review and Applicable Law

¶ 7 We review the record de novo to determine whether the evidence before the jury was sufficient both in quantity and quality to sustain a conviction. Clark v. People , 232 P.3d 1287, 1291 (Colo. 2010). In determining this, we use the substantial evidence test. Id. That test requires us to determine whether the evidence, viewed as a whole and in the light most favorable to the prosecution, is sufficient for a reasonable person to conclude that the defendant is guilty of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. We must give the prosecution the benefit of every reasonable inference that may fairly be drawn from the evidence. Dempsey v. People , 117 P.3d 800, 807 (Colo. 2005).

¶ 8 "A person commits theft when he or she knowingly obtains, retains, or exercises control over anything of value of another without authorization" and "[i]ntends to deprive the other person permanently of the use or benefit of the thing of value." § 18-4-401(1)(a). Theft is a "class 6 felony if the value of the thing involved is two thousand dollars or more but less than five thousand dollars." § 18-4-401(2)(f).

B. Analysis

¶ 9 Defendant argues that the jury was presented with no credible evidence that any funds were unlawfully misappropriated from the Believe Fundraiser and that the jury was given no basis other than speculation to determine the amount of money missing.

¶ 10 We conclude that the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was sufficient for a reasonable person to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant committed theft from the Believe Fundraiser. This evidence included the following:

• Defendant sent a text message to the PTSA secretary stating that she had deposited $19,760.65 into the PTSA account.
• The secretary testified that $16,473.21 was actually deposited into the PTSA account.
• When confronted about the missing funds, defendant said that she was "sorry this happened" and that she wanted to "make it right."

¶ 11 Based on this evidence, a reasonable person could conclude that defendant knowingly retained funds from the Believe Fundraiser and intended to permanently deprive the PTSA of the value of the funds. Further, a reasonable juror could conclude that the *906value of the funds taken was between $2000 and $5000.

III. Verdict Form

¶ 12 Defendant contends that the trial court erred in rejecting her proposed instruction paragraph for the verdict form. We agree that the trial court failed to accurately inform the jury of the law.

¶ 13 Defendant tendered a proposed verdict form that instructed the jury, "if you answer 'Yes' to less than two of the verdict questions, your verdict must be NOT GUILTY." The court rejected this proposed instruction, finding that "it is not an element [of Count 5] that there be two thefts chosen."

¶ 14 We review jury instructions de novo to determine whether they accurately informed the jury of the law. People v. Alvarado-Juarez , 252 P.3d 1135, 1137 (Colo. App. 2010). But, we review a court's decision to give a particular instruction for an abuse of discretion. People v. McClelland , 2015 COA 1, ¶ 14, 350 P.3d 976.

¶ 15 Statutory interpretation involves legal questions, which we review de novo. Smith v. Exec. Custom Homes, Inc. , 230 P.3d 1186, 1189 (Colo. 2010). The goal in interpreting a statute is to ascertain the General Assembly's intent. People v. Nance ,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Brown v. People
239 P.3d 764 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2010)
People v. Santana
255 P.3d 1126 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2011)
People v. ALVARADO-JUAREZ
252 P.3d 1135 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2010)
Clark v. People
232 P.3d 1287 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2010)
Town of Telluride v. Lot Thirty-Four Venture, L.L.C.
3 P.3d 30 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2000)
Specialized Grading Enterprises, Inc. v. Goodland Construction, Inc.
181 P.3d 352 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2007)
People v. Nance
221 P.3d 428 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2009)
People v. Smith
121 P.3d 243 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2005)
People v. Stewart
55 P.3d 107 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2002)
People v. Sepulveda
65 P.3d 1002 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2003)
Dempsey v. People
117 P.3d 800 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2005)
Hinojos-Mendoza v. People
169 P.3d 662 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2007)
People v. Simon
266 P.3d 1099 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2011)
Lucero v. People
2012 CO 7 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2012)
People v. McClelland
2015 COA 1 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2015)
People v. Morales
2014 COA 129 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2014)
Venalonzo v. People
2017 CO 9 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
417 P.3d 902, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ramos-coloctapp-2017.