People v. Smith

2014 CO 10, 318 P.3d 472, 2014 WL 350626
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedFebruary 3, 2014
DocketSupreme Court Case No. 10SC747
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 2014 CO 10 (People v. Smith) 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. Smith, 2014 CO 10, 318 P.3d 472, 2014 WL 350626 (Colo. 2014).

Opinions

JUSTICE BOATRIGHT

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

T1 In this opinion, we review People v. Smith, 312 P.3d 1178 (Colo.App.2010), a court of appeals decision analyzing the seope of a trial court's discretion when awarding credit for presentence confinement against a jail sentence imposed as a condition of probation. In Smith, the court of appeals held that the trial court abused its discretion when it awarded Smith, a felony offender, only a portion of his presentence confinement [474]*474credit ("PSCC") 1 against a jail term imposed as. a condition of probation. 312 P.3d at 1180-81. The court of appeals concluded that while the trial court was not required to award PSCC against a jail term imposed as a condition of probation, if the trial court chose to award PSCC, it had to award PSCC equal to the full amount of time served. Id. at 1181.

T2 We disagree. We hold that the statutory provision governing PSCC for a felony offense, section 18-1.3-405, C.R.S. (2013), does not apply to probation, and therefore does not apply to the jail component of a probation sentence. Because a trial court is not constrained by section 18-1.3-405 when sentencing an offender to probation with a jail component, whether to credit an offender for presentence confinement-in full, in part, or not at all-is within the trial court's discretion. Accordingly, we reverse and we remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. Facts and Procedural History

T3 Spencer Smith broke into the victim's apartment carrying a concealed shotgun. He claimed that he went to the apartment to collect on a debt. A jury found Smith guilty of first-degree criminal trespass. He was sentenced to three years of intensive supervised probation. As a condition of his probation, the trial court ordered Smith to serve 30 days in the county jail to impress upon Smith the severity of his crime. The trial court noted that the defendant had already served county jail time at the time of sentencing but determined that additional jail time was warranted due to the use of a weapon:

The Court does feel there's a need for a punitive sanction, and the Court is going to sentence the defendant to 80 days at the Larimer County Detention Center.
I do note the defendant previously served 89 days, but the Court feels it's appropriate that the defendant serve 80 days straight time at the Larimer County Detention Center. The Court ... simply wants to make sure the defendant understands that the use of weapons in situations like this just cannot be tolerated.

Defense counsel objected, stating: "[The] maximum that the Court can impose as a condition of probation is 90 days." The trial court overruled the objection, stating: "I'm not giving the defendant credit for all of the 89 days that he previously served. I'll give him eredit for 60 days and impose the balance of 90 days then."

T 4 Smith appealed the denial of 29 days of PSCC. He argued that the felony PSCC statute, section 18-1.3-405, mandates that a court apply the full 89 days of credit against a jail term imposed as a condition of probation. In the alternative, he argued that the trial court's interpretation of the PSCC statute violated his equal protection rights.

T5 The court of appeals reversed the trial court, concluding that while the trial court had discretion not to award any PSCC to a jail sentence imposed as a condition of felony probation, if the trial court decided to award PSCC, it did not have discretion to award less than the full amount of PSCC. Smith, 312 P.3d at 1180-81. In short, the court of appeals held that a trial court sentencing a felony offender to probation only has the discretion either to apply full PSCC or to apply no PSCC to a jail sentence imposed as a condition of probation. Id.

16 We granted certiorari to address the question of whether an offender is entitled to have the jail component of his probation sentence reduced by the period of presentence confinement.2

IIL - Analysis

T7 To resolve this issue we first examine our precedent regarding the seope of the trial court's authority when sentencing a con-[475]*475vieted offender to probation under the probation statute, section 18-1.3-202, C.RS. (2018). Next, we evaluate the statutory framework underlying an award of PSCC for a felony offense, section 18-1.8-405, to determine whether the statute requires a trial court, when sentencing an offender to probation that includes a jail component, to credit an offender for presentence confinement in a certain amount.

A. Jail as a Condition of Probation

T8 Probation is an alternative to a prison sentence. § 18-1.3-104, C.R.S. (2018); Danielson v. Dennis, 139 P.3d 688, 693 (Colo.2006). The legislature created these sentencing alternatives because incarceration and probation serve different purposes. People v. Martinez, 844 P.2d 1203, 1206 (Colo.App.1992). A prison sentence is primarily punitive. Id. By contrast, probation is intended to be rehabilitative. Logan v. People for Use of Alamosa Cnty., 138 Colo. 304, 807, 332 P.2d 897, 899 (1958). Because probation is an opportunity for an offender to avoid serving a harsher sentence, an offender must apply for it, and receipt of probation is characterized as a privilege, not a right. Holdren v. People, 168 Colo. 474, 478, 452 P.2d 28, 30 (1969). An offender also must choose to accept the court's terms; the court may not impose a sentence of probation without the offender's consent. People v. Rollins, 771 P.2d 32, 33-34 (Colo.App.1989). If the offender rejects probation, the court may sentence the offender to imprisonment under section 18-1.3-104.

19 The court's general authority to grant an offender probation comes from seetion 18-1.83-202. As such, the court may impose any conditions on the offender's probation that are authorized by the statute. People v. Brockelman, 933 P.2d 1315, 1318 (Colo.1997). Under the statute, a court has broad discretion to impose whatever conditions it considers appropriate to ensure that the offender leads a law-abiding life: "[TJhe court may grant the defendant probation for such period and upon such terms and conditions as it deems best." § 18-1.3-202; Brockelman, 933 P.2d at 1318-19. A condition will only be considered outside of the scope of the court's authority if it is not reasonably related to encouraging the offender to lead a law-abiding life. Brockelman, 933 P.2d at 1319.

110 A court's broad discretion to impose conditions on the probation sentence that it deems suitable for encouraging rehabilitation includes the option to impose a jail sentence. For an offender convicted of a felony, the court may impose up to 90 days of jail time as a term of probation:

In addition to imposing other conditions, the court has the power to commit the defendant to any jail operated by the county or city and county in which the offense was committed during such time or for such intervals within the period of probation as the court determines.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2014 CO 10, 318 P.3d 472, 2014 WL 350626, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-smith-colo-2014.