People v. Wentling

2015 COA 172, 409 P.3d 411, 2015 Colo. App. LEXIS 1857
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 3, 2015
DocketCourt of Appeals 12CA1423
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 2015 COA 172 (People v. Wentling) 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. Wentling, 2015 COA 172, 409 P.3d 411, 2015 Colo. App. LEXIS 1857 (Colo. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinions

Opinion by

JUDGE TAUBMAN

¶ 1 Defendant, Mark Richard Wentling, appeals his judgment of conviction entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of first degree criminal trespass with intent to commit motor vehicle theft under sections 18-4-502 and 18-4^109(4), C.R.S.2015. He also appeals his presentenee confinement credit (PSCC) award. We affirm the judgment of conviction for first degree criminal trespass, reverse the sentence in part, and remand to the trial court to correct the mittimus accordingly regarding PSCC.

I. Background

¶ 2 On April 5, 2011, police officers arrested Wentling in Utah after finding him sleeping in a vehicle that had been reported as stolen in Colorado. The next day, Wentling was charged with multiple offenses in Colorado, including first degree criminal trespass with intent to commit motor vehicle theft.1 Three days later, Wentling was charged in Utah with unauthorized control of a vehicle for an extended time. He remained in custody in Utah and pleaded no contest to the Utah charge in May 2011. In June 2011, Wentling was sentenced by a Utah court to zero to five years in prison.

¶3 Wentling was transported from the Utah Department of Corrections to the Mof-fat County Jail in Colorado on October 11, 2011, pursuant to a detainer agreement between Colorado and Utah. In November 2011, Wentling’s initial Colorado charges were amended to include two habitual criminal counts.

¶4 Following an initial trial in February 2012 that resulted in a mistrial, a jury convicted Wentling at his second trial in April 2012 of first degree criminal trespass with intent to commit motor vehicle theft and second degree trespass. On May 29, 2012, the trial court sentenced Wentling to six years in the custody of the Department of Corrections plus three years mandatory pa[415]*415role. The trial court awarded Wentling 112 days PSCC for his time in the Moffat County Jail from February 7, 2012 2 to May 29, 2012. Wentling filed a motion seeking eighty-nine days of additional PSCC, which the trial court denied.

¶ 5 Wentling raises four issues on appeal: (1) the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to convict him of first degree criminal trespass with intent to commit motor vehicle theft; (2) his Colorado prosecution violated section 18-1-303, C.R.S.2015, because he had already been prosecuted in Utah under a law intended to prevent substantially the same harm; (3) he was denied equal protection of the law when he was subjected to a harsher punishment for first degree criminal trespass with intent to commit motor vehicle theft than punishment under attempted motor, vehicle theft; and (4) the trial court incorrectly calculated his PSCC. We reject his first three assertions, but we agree .with his fourth.

II. Sufficiency of Evidence

¶ 6 Wentling contends there was insufficient evidence to convict him of first degree criminal trespass with intent to commit motor vehicle theft. First, he contends the first degree criminal trespass statute’s plain language requires the People to present evidence that he committed -a crime inside the vehicle. Wentling argues that motor vehicle theft is not a crime committed inside the vehicle and, thus, the People did not present sufficient evidence to prove he entered the motor vehicle with the intent to commit a crime therein.

¶ 7 Second, Wentling contends that if. the first degree criminal trespass statute is ambiguous, it does not apply in this case for three reasons: (1) to construe the statute as applying to the facts of this case would render paid; of it superfluous; (2) the People’s application of the first degree criminal trespass statute here is contrary to the comprehensive motor vehicle theft statute; and (3) applying it in this case would be inconsistent with the statute’s legislative history. We disagree.

A. Standard of Review

¶ 8 We review the record de novo to determine whether the evidence before the jury was sufficient in quality and quantity to sustain the conviction. Dempsey v. People, 117 P.3d 800, 807 (Colo.2005). In doing so, we consider “whether the relevant evidence, both direct and circumstantial, when viewed as a whole and in the light most favorable to the prosecution, is substantial and sufficient to support a conclusion by a reasonable mind that the defendant is guilty of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.” People v. Williams, 2012 COA 165, ¶ 34, 297 P.3d 1011, 1017 (citation omitted).

B. Applicable Law

¶ 9 Due process requires the prosecution to prove the existence of every element of an offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt. U.S. Const. amends. V, XIV; Colo. Const, art. II, § 25; People v. Duncan, 109 P.3d 1044, 1045 (Colo.App.2004). Thus, a conviction based on a record containing insufficient evidence of an element of an offense violates a defendant’s right to due process. Duncan, 109 P.3d at 1045.

¶ 10 In construing a statute, a reviewing court must give effect to the intent of the legislature. Gorman v. People, 19 P.3d 662, 665 (Colo.2000). In determining that intent, a court should look first to the plain language of the statute. People v. Dist. Court, 713 P.2d 918, 921 (Colo.1986). If the statute is unambiguous, the court should look no further. Mason v. People, 932 P.2d 1377, 1378 (Colo.1997). Statutory construction principles should only be relied on when the statute is ambiguous. Grant v. People, 48 P.3d 543, 546 (Colo.2002).

¶ 11 When looking at the plain language of the statute to determine legislative intent, a court should consider the plain and ordinary meaning of the words the legislature chose to use. People v. Banks, 9 P.3d 1125, 1127 (Colo.2000); see also Griego v. People, 19 P.3d 1, 7 (Colo.2001) (stating that [416]*416words and phrases should be read in context and construed, according to the rules of grammar and common usage); Vega v. People, 893 P.2d 107 (Colo.1995) (asserting that words and phrases used are to be read in context and accorded their, plain meanings). The statute should be read and considered as a whole to give consistent, harmonious, and sensible effect to all its parts. Dist. Court, 713 P.2d at 921.

¶ 12 Colorado’s first degree criminal trespass statute provides that it is a class five felony for a person to enter “any motor vehicle with intent to commit a crime therein.” § 18-4-502. Wentling was convicted of criminal trespass with the intent to commit motor vehicle theft. A person commits second degree aggravated motor vehicle theft if he or she- knowingly obtains or exercises control over the motor vehicle of another without authorization-or by threat or deception. § 18-4-409(4).

C. Analysis

¶ 13 Wentling contends he was improperly prosecuted for first degree criminal trespass, an offense which was not intended to apply to the theft of motor vehicles. He- contends that under the first degree criminal trespass statute’s plain meaning, and even under the rules of statutory construction, the statute does not apply to him. We conclude there was' sufficient evidence to' convict Wentling of first degree criminal trespass under the plain meaning of the statute.

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2015 COA 172, 409 P.3d 411, 2015 Colo. App. LEXIS 1857, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-wentling-coloctapp-2015.