People v. Torrez

2012 COA 51, 405 P.3d 243, 2012 WL 1036004, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 457
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 29, 2012
DocketNo. 09CA0511
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2012 COA 51 (People v. Torrez) 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. Torrez, 2012 COA 51, 405 P.3d 243, 2012 WL 1036004, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 457 (Colo. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge HAWTHORNE.

¶ 1 Defendant, Amber Lee Torrez, appeals the Jefferson County District Court’s order granting her 86 days of presentence confinement credit (PSCC) for the time she was physically confined in Jefferson County prior to being sentenced and denying her PSCC for the 1,493 days she was confined in Denver and at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo (CMHIP).

I. Summary

¶ 2 In this appeal, we apply the PSCC statute to novel circumstances. Defendant was confined in Denver on separate Denver and Jefferson County arrest warrants. She was subsequently ordered to be confined at CMHIP by both Denver and Jefferson County. After a Denver jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI), Denver again ordered her to be confined at CMHIP.

[244]*24413 The people argue- that the rationale underlying several' supreme court cases decided in the 1980s indicates that defendant is not entitled to additional PSCC toward her Jefferson County sentence for the time she was confined in Denver and at CMHIP prior to the NGRI verdict. However, that precedent was based on an earlier version of the PSCC statute, and’ a supreme court ease decided in 2003 has undemined a key segment of the rationale supporting the earlier cases. Nevertheless, we conclude that, because the- supreme court has not squarely interpreted the PSCC statute since 2003, the earlier cases remain binding precedent in all other respects, and therefore defendant is not entitled'to PSCC for herpre-NGRI confinement. However, even under that precedent, defendant is entitled to PSCC for her confinement at CMHIP after the NGRI and before being sentenced by Jefferson County;

¶4 Accordingly, as further explained below, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand to the district court with instructions to grant defendant PSCC for the time she was confined at CMHIP between the Denver NGRI vei’dict and her sentencing in Jefferson County.

II. Facts and Procedural History

¶ 5 On March 23, 2004, Jefferson County issued a warrant for dófendant’s arrest based on an incident in which She assaulted a person. Six days later, defendant was arrested in Denver on the Jefferson County warrant and also on murder charges for two homicides that occurred in Denver. She was held in Denver without bond pending resolution of the Denver murder charges.

¶ 6 In December 2004, the Denver District Court determined that, based on the results of a competency evaluation, defendant was incompetent to proceed to trial!’ The court relocatéd her to CMHIP.

¶ 7 On March 7, 2005, the Jefferson County District Court made a preliminary finding that defendant was incompetent to proceed to trial. The court finalized the finding on June 27, 2005 and also ordered that she be confined at CMHIP,

¶ 8 On July 26, 2005, the Denver District Court found defendant competent to proceed on the murder charges and relocated her to Denver “on leave” from CMHIP to stand trial. After a jury found defendant NGRI on August 28, 2006, the Denver District Court sent her back to CMHIP, where she was to remain until her sanity was restored and she could be released under section 16 — 8— 115(2)(b), C.R.S.2011. ‘

¶ 9 Throughout defendant’s Denver trial proceedings, the Jefferson County order committing defendant to CMHIP. remained in effect. Nevertheless, defendant was temporarily transported to Jefferson County on numerous occasions based on writs issued by Jefferson County prosecutors.

¶ 10 On January 25, 2007, the Jefferson County District Court found defendant competent to proceed to trial, and she entered an NGRI plea. On June 3, 2008, after a psychological evaluation indicated that she was sane on the date of the Jefferson County assault, defendant entered a guilty plea. On July 25, 2008, the Jefferson County District Court sentenced defendant to ten years in the Department of Corrections (DOC) and granted her 86 days PSCC for the time she had been physically present in Jefferson County.

¶ 11 Defendant filed a motion requesting the Jefferson County District Court to award her 1,579 days PSCC on her Jefferson County sentence to cover the entire period of her confinement between March 2004 to July 25, 2008, including the time she was confined in Denver and at CMHIP. The court denied the motion.

¶ 12 Defendant appeals.

III. Defendant’s Entitlement to PSCC

¶ 13 Defendant contends that the Jefferson County District Court erred in granting her only 86 days PSCC, representing the time she was physically confined in Jefferson County. She asserts that she is also entitled to receive PSCC for the 1,493 days she was confined in Denver and at CMHIP. We conclude that, despite the current PSCC statute’s plain language, binding precedent dictates that for the period defendant was confined prior to the Denver NGRI verdict, [245]*245the Jefferson County District Court properly granted defendant PSCC only for the time she was physically confined in Jefferson County. However, once the Denver criminal proceeding against defendant ended — that is, when the Denver jury found defendant NGRI — binding precedent no longer barred defendant from receiving PSCC on the Jefferson County sentence for the time she. continued to be confined at CMHIP because there was no longer a separate and independent criminal proceeding pending against her. Accordingly, the Jefferson County District Court erred in denying defendant PSCC for the period of confinement between the Denver NGRI verdict and imposition of the Jefferson County sentence.

¶ 14 Whether a district court properly awarded PSCC is a legal question we review de novo. People v. Wallin, 167 P.3d 183, 191 (Colo.App.2007).

A Plain Language Analysis

¶ 15 We begin our analysis by looking only to the plain language of the current statute governing PSCC, section 18-1.3-405, C.R.S. 2011, which applies to defendant’s claim. See People v. Norton, 63 P.3d 339, 343-45 (Colo. 2003) (interpreting section 18-1.3-405 by looking first to plain language). In relevant part, it provides:

A person who is confined for an offense prior to the imposition of sentence for said offense is entitled to credit against the term of his or her sentence for the entire period of such confinement.

Thus, by the current PSCC statute’s plain terms, a defendant is entitled to PSCC if he or she was confined-“for an offense prior to the imposition of [the] sentence for [that] offense.”

¶ 16 Here, defendant was arrested on warrants from both Denver and Jefferson County. Moreover, according to the Jefferson County investigator, she was held in Denver on the Jefferson County warrant. Thus, defendant was confined in Denver because of proceedings in both counties and therefore, under the plain language of the current PSCC statute, defendant’s Denver confinement was “for [the Jefferson County] offense prior to imposition of [the] sentence for [that] offense." § 18-1.3-406. Accordingly, under the statute’s plain language, she appears to be entitled to PSCC on her Jefferson County sentence for the. time she was confined in Denver.

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Related

People v. Torrez
2017 CO 91 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2017)
People v. Fransua
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People v. Howe
2012 COA 177 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2012 COA 51, 405 P.3d 243, 2012 WL 1036004, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-torrez-coloctapp-2012.