People v. Trujillo

75 P.3d 1133, 2003 Colo. App. LEXIS 34, 2003 WL 132546
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 16, 2003
Docket01CA1558
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 75 P.3d 1133 (People v. Trujillo) 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. Trujillo, 75 P.3d 1133, 2003 Colo. App. LEXIS 34, 2003 WL 132546 (Colo. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge NIETO.

Defendant, Arnold R. Trujillo, appeals the judgment of conviction entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of second degree burglary. He also appeals his sentence,. We reverse part of the restitution order and otherwise affirm.

The vietim of this burglary was awakened by a noise in his house during the early morning hours. He turned on lights in his bedroom and the adjoining hallway and saw a man standing in the doorway of the bedroom across the hall. He confronted the intruder, who soon fled the house.

The victim's next-door neighbor saw someone get out of a taxi and enter the victim's house. Approximately ten minutes later, he observed the intruder run out the front door. The neighbor followed as the intruder ran *1136 and walked through the neighborhood, but eventually lost sight of him. However, the neighbor contacted a police officer at the scene and described the intruder.

Shortly thereafter, another officer contacted defendant approximately four blocks from the victim's house. The victim and the neighbor were each escorted to that location to determine whether they could identify defendant. The victim positively identified defendant as the intruder, and the neighbor stated that defendant's height, weight, and clothing generally matched that of the man he had seen.

Defendant was convicted of second degree burglary after a jury trial. He was sentenced to twenty years in the Department of Corrections and ordered to pay restitution. This appeal followed.

L.

Defendant contends that the trial court erred in admitting evidence identifying him as the burglar because it was tainted by an unreliable and unduly suggestive one-on-one identification procedure. He argues that the procedure violated his right to due process. We disagree.

While one-on-one showups are viewed with disfavor, they are not per se violations of due process. Such a procedure may be justified where immediate identification would facilitate an ongoing criminal investigation and where the police need an immediate determination of whether they should continue searching for a suspect. People v. Mascarenas, 666 P.2d 101 (Colo.1983).

In determining whether a particular showup violates a defendant's due process rights, a court must ascertain whether, under the totality of the cireumstances, the identification was unreliable because the confrontation was unnecessarily and irreparably suggestive. The following factors are relevant in determining whether a one-on-one showup is unduly suggestive: the witness's opportunity to view the criminal at the time of the crime, the witness's degree of attention at the time of the crime, the accuracy of any prior description, the level of certainty at the showup, and the time between the crime and the identification. People v. Mascarenas, supra; People v. Young, 923 P.2d 145 (Colo.App.1995).

The constitutionality of a pretrial identification procedure is a mixed question of law and fact. While the trial court's findings of historical fact are entitled to deference, an appellate court may give different weight to those facts and may reach a different conclusion in light of the legal standard. Bernal v. People, 44 P.3d 184 (Colo.2002).

Defendant filed a pretrial motion to suppress the identification evidence. At the hearing on the motion, both the victim and his neighbor testified. The victim identified defendant as the person he had seen inside his home. The neighbor did not attempt an in-court identification of defendant.

The trial court made the following findings of fact, which are supported by evidence in the record. The victim saw the intruder in his home in a lighted area. The victim had an "excellent opportunity" to see the intruder because he was near him and paying close attention to him. The victim's description of the intruder was "generic," but he saw the intruder's face. Defendant was stopped within a few blocks of the victim's residence, and the time between "the crime and confrontation was exceedingly short." When he was brought to the location where defendant was being detained, the victim was "absolute ly certain" in his identification of defendant.

As to the neighbor, the court found that he had observed a person running from the victim's home, but never saw his face. The neighbor had given a description of that person's clothing that was similar to the clothing defendant was wearing. Like the victim, the neighbor was taken to the location where defendant was being detained. Based on the clothing defendant was wearing, the neighbor was "relatively sure" that defendant was the person he had seen running from the victim's home.

The trial court applied the correct legal standard and found that the pretrial identification procedures were not unduly suggestive. The court also found that the one-on-one showups were justified here because the *1137 police needed to determine whether defendant was the suspect or whether they should continue searching. The court determined, under the totality of the cireumstances, the identification procedures were not so imper-missibly suggestive that irreparable misiden-tification was substantially likely.

Based on our review of the record, we conclude that the trial court's findings regarding the relevant factors are supported by substantial evidence. Moreover, we agree with the trial court that under the totality of the cireumstances the identification was not unreliable because the confrontation was not unnecessarily and irreparably suggestive.

In light of this conclusion, we need not reach defendant's contention that the victim's in-court identification lacked an independent basis. See People v. Borrego, 668 P.2d 21 (Colo.App.1983).

Accordingly, the trial court did not err in admitting evidence identifying defendant as the burglar.

IL

Defendant contends that the trial court erred in admitting his statements to the police because he was in custody and had not been advised of his rights under Miranda. We are not persuaded.

For statements made during custodial interrogation to be admissible, the police must have advised the suspect of his or her constitutional rights. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 LEd.2d 694 (1966). Two requirements trigger the need for a Miranda advisement: the suspect must be in custody, and the statement must be the product of a police interrogation. People v. Reddersen, 992 P.2d 1176 (Colo.2000).

A defendant is in custody for the purpose of Miranda warnings if he or she was formally arrested or, based on the totality of the cireumstances, a reasonable person in the defendant's position would have felt that his or her freedom of action had been curtailed to a degree associated with a formal arrest. People v. Mangum, 48 P.3d 568 (Colo.2002).

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Bluebook (online)
75 P.3d 1133, 2003 Colo. App. LEXIS 34, 2003 WL 132546, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-trujillo-coloctapp-2003.