People v. Sepeda

581 P.2d 723, 196 Colo. 13, 1978 Colo. LEXIS 789
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedJune 26, 1978
Docket27880
StatusPublished
Cited by86 cases

This text of 581 P.2d 723 (People v. Sepeda) 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. Sepeda, 581 P.2d 723, 196 Colo. 13, 1978 Colo. LEXIS 789 (Colo. 1978).

Opinions

MR. JUSTICE LEE

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Defendant-appellant John Martinez Sepeda, Jr. was convicted, by jury, of second-degree murder,1 attempted second-degree murder (two counts),2 reckless endangerment (two counts),3 and third-degree assault (two counts),4 in the District Court of Weld County. Defendant appeals his conviction and urges seven separate grounds that he contends individually and collectively warrant reversal. We find that none of defendant’s claims warrant reversal and affirm his conviction.

During the evening of June 28, and into the early morning hours of June 29, 1975, John Sepeda (defendant), Bias Calderon (John’s cousin), Gloria Ortega (John’s girl friend) and three of their friends were drinking beer on the porch of defendant’s house in Greeley. Although it is not clear whether defendant and his friends were intoxicated, they had been driving around the town of Estes Park arid drinking for most of the day.

At about 1:30 a.m., Bias Calderon went across the street to buy a package of cigarettes at the “Taco Bell” restaurant. He met Ken Griego, Thomas Griego and John Korgan in the restaurant’s parking lot, and accompanied them into the restaurant where he met Jerry Lujan, David Lujan and Jose Maestas. Words were exchanged and Bias was told to leave. As he started across the street, he turned and shouted an obscenity at the group. All six jumped up from their tables and began to chase Bias.

[17]*17Defendant and his friends on the porch saw Bias being chased and ran to his aid. A gang-fight ensued, with the six men from Taco Bell apparently getting the better of defendant, Bias, and their two friends.

There was conflicting testimony as to whether members of either group had weapons. A single-edged razor blade was found at the scene. There was also conflicting testimony as to how long the fight lasted. It is undisputed, however, that soon after the fight began defendant ran into his house and got a .22-caliber pistol. He came out and fired a warning shot. A bullet was later recovered, embedded high in a sign one-half block from the house.

There was testimony that when the first shot was fired the fight ended and the participants began to run away. Defendant testified to the contrary, however, stating that when the fight did not cease after the warning shot he fired into the crowd to try to break up the fray. Defendant related that from this point on he had no memory of what happened.

The evidence showed that defendant fired at least three shots into the crowd, hitting Jose Maestas, David Lujan and Jerry Lujan. It is undisputed that the fight was over at this point. Defendant then approached Jerry Lujan, who was standing by a fence, and shot him again. Witnesses placed defendant somewhere between three and six feet from Lujan at the time the final shots were fired. The testimony was in conflict as to how long defendant faced Lujan before firing again and whether any words were exchanged between them. Lujan died of these wounds.

Defendant left the scene of the fight and drove to the home of a friend, Apolonio Gueroz. Gueroz drove defendant and Gloria Ortega to the home of another friend, Moise Acquirre. According to Gueroz and Ms. Ortega, defendant made several incriminating statements during this period and seemed extremely frightened.

Acquirre drove defendant to New Mexico, where he stayed for a few days before voluntarily surrendering to police.

I.

Appellant’s first argument for reversal is that the method of jury selection used in Weld County systematically excluded Spanish-surnamed persons who comprised 15.4% of the population of Weld County, according to the 1970 census.5 We do not agree. The record does not support such a contention.

The first step in the jury selection procedure was to obtain voter registration and driver and chauffeur- license lists for Weld County. The lists were then combined and duplicate names were eliminated. The resulting [18]*18list contained 82,000 names. Each name on this list was assigned a random number and, using a key number system, the number of names was reduced to 5,489. This list was called the “Master List.” It contained only 569 or 10.4% Spanish-surnamed persons.

Questionnaires were then sent to the people whose names were on the Master List. Two thousand seven hundred forty-nine persons returned these questionnaires and of these 259 or 8.7% were Spanish-surnamed. From this list, 350 names were selected for the jury list. The jury list contained 30, or 8.6%, Spanish-surnamed persons. The jury at defendant’s trial contained a single Spanish-surnamed person, who sat as a second alternate.

A city and county directory is published for Weld County, and defendant contends that, if this were used to select the jury pool, the disparity between 15.4% and 10.4% would not exist. The directory was not used because it was not produced in the computer media used by the state judicial department in its jury selection procedures. It was determined by the judicial administrator and the chief judge of the judicial district that the conversion could not be accomplished by reason of a lack of funding.

Appellant asserts that this system creates a jury array that violates his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights and the terms of Colorado’s Uniform Jury Selection and Service Act, section 13-71-101, et seq., C.R.S. 1973. We first address defendant’s constitutional claims.

The Supreme Court of the United States has stated time and again that the constitutional guarantees of due process and a trial by jury mandate that juries be selected from a representative cross-section of the community. E.g., Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 95 S. Ct. 692, 42 L.Ed.2d 690; Turner v. Fouche, 396 U.S. 346, 90 S.Ct. 532, 24 L.Ed.2d 567; Whitus v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 545, 87 S.Ct. 643, 17 L.Ed.2d 599; Strouder v. West Virginia, 100 U.S. 303, 25 L.Ed. 664. There is no requirement, however, that each petit jury reflect the exact ethnic proportion of the population to which the defendant belongs. Taylor v. Louisiana, supra; Alexander v. Louisiana, 405 U.S. 625, 92 S.Ct. 1221, 31 L.Ed.2d 536.

The jury selection procedure here involved differs in three significant aspects from many dealt with by the United States Supreme Court. First, there is no showing of any opportunity in the process for any human bias or prejudice to operate to alter the ethnic proportions in the jury pool. Cf. Castaneda v. Partida, 430 U.S. 482, 97 S.Ct. 1272, 51 L.Ed.2d 498 (jury pools selected by jury commissioners); Alexander v. Louisiana, supra (jurors picked from questionnaires returned; each questionnaire had a space marked for race); Whitus v. Georgia, supra.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
581 P.2d 723, 196 Colo. 13, 1978 Colo. LEXIS 789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-sepeda-colo-1978.