People v. Rogers

410 P.3d 544
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 28, 2014
DocketCourt of Appeals No. 11CA1934
StatusPublished

This text of 410 P.3d 544 (People v. Rogers) 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. Rogers, 410 P.3d 544 (Colo. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Opinion by JUDGE GABRIEL

¶ 1 Defendant, Bobby Nicky Rogers, appeals the district court's restitution order entered on his conviction after a guilty plea of attempted sexual assault. As an apparent matter of first impression in Colorado, we conclude that the district court erred in ordering Rogers to pay restitution to the Aurora Police Department for a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) examination conducted for the purpose of collecting forensic evidence. We further conclude that the record does not support affirming this award on the alternative ground that the cost of the SANE examination was a recoverable cost of prosecution. Accordingly, we reverse the restitution order and remand the case to the district court with directions that the court modify its sentencing order accordingly.

I. Background

¶ 2 According to a police officer's affidavit, Rogers offered the victim a ride in his car. After she accepted, Rogers drove her behind a building, parked, threatened her with a knife, and forced her to perform oral sex on him. After the incident, the victim called the police and was transported to a hospital. Rogers was arrested shortly thereafter, and the victim identified him as the man who had sexually assaulted her.

¶ 3 Rogers subsequently pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault-overcome victim's will in exchange for a stipulated four-year term of sex offender intensive supervised probation. Thereafter, the prosecution requested $500 in restitution to be paid to the Aurora Police Department for the cost of the victim's SANE examination. Alternatively, the prosecution argued that this cost should be awarded as a cost of prosecution. Over Rogers' objection, the court granted the prosecution's request for the $500 in restitution.

¶ 4 Rogers now appeals.

II. Restitution

¶ 5 Rogers contends that the district court erred in ordering restitution for the cost of the SANE examination. We agree.

A. Principles of Statutory Interpretation

¶ 6 This case requires us to interpret the term "victim" and the phrase "extraordinary direct public ... investigative costs" in the restitution statutes, §§ 18-1.3-601 to - 603, C.R.S.2013. We review these issues of statutory interpretation de novo. See Dubois v. People, 211 P.3d 41, 43 (Colo.2009) (interpreting "victim" de novo); People v. Juanda, 2012 COA 159, ¶¶ 6, 9-13, 303 P.3d 128, 129-30 (interpreting "victim" and "extraordinary direct public ... investigative costs" de novo).

¶ 7 Our primary purpose in statutory construction is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the General Assembly. People v. Cito, 2012 COA 221, ¶ 14, 310 P.3d 256, 259. We first look to the language of the statute, giving words and phrases their plain and ordinary meanings. Id. We read words and phrases in context and construe them according to their common usage. Id.

*546¶ 8 In addition, we must interpret a statute in a way that best effectuates the purpose of the legislative scheme. Id. at ¶ 15, 310 P.3d at 259. 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. at ¶ 16, 310 P.3d at 259.

B. Discussion

¶ 9 Rogers asserts that the district court erred in awarding restitution to the Aurora Police Department because (1) the Department was not a "victim," as defined in the applicable version of section 18-1.3-602(4)(a) and the case law interpreting that section; and (2) the costs of the SANE examination were not "extraordinary direct public ... investigative costs" under section 18-1.3-602(3)(b). We address these contentions in turn and agree with both of Rogers' arguments.

1. "Victim"

¶ 10 Section 18-1.3-602(3)(a) provides, in pertinent part, " 'Restitution' means any pecuniary loss suffered by a victim." Under the version of the restitution statute applicable here, "victim" was defined, in pertinent part, as "any person aggrieved by the conduct of an offender." § 18-1.3-602(4)(a). (The current version of the statute expressly extends the definition of "victim" to any person who had to expend resources for the purposes described in section 18-1.3-602(3)(b), which include extraordinary direct public investigative costs, see § 18-1.3-602(4)(a)(VI), but that language was added after Rogers' sentencing in 2013, see Ch. 272, sec. 7, § 18-1.3-602(4)(a)(VI), 2013 Colo. Sess. Laws 1426, 1429, and is inapplicable here.)

¶ 11 "The language 'aggrieved by the conduct of an offender,' is not limitless in its reach and was not intended to include the ordinary expenses of law enforcement." Dubois, 211 P.3d at 46. Thus, in Dubois, our supreme court articulated a general rule that governmental agency expenses are not typically eligible for recovery under the restitution statute absent an express legislative provision authorizing them, unless the underlying criminal statute encompasses the agency as a primary victim. Id. ; accord People v. Padilla-Lopez, 2012 CO 49, ¶ 14, 279 P.3d 651, 654.

¶ 12 Here, the underlying sex assault statute did not encompass the police or any related governmental entity as a primary victim. Cf. Dubois,

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Related

Dubois v. People
211 P.3d 41 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2009)
People v. Padilla-Lopez
2012 CO 49 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2012)
People v. Montanez
2012 COA 101 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2012)
People v. Juanda
2012 COA 159 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2012)
People v. Sinovcic
2013 COA 38 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2013)
People v. Cito
2012 COA 221 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2012)
People v. Chase
411 P.3d 740 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2013)
Snider v. Town of Platteville
227 P. 548 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1924)

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Bluebook (online)
410 P.3d 544, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-rogers-coloctapp-2014.