People v. Wilder

412 P.3d 686
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 26, 2015
DocketCourt of Appeals No. 12CA0066
StatusPublished

This text of 412 P.3d 686 (People v. Wilder) 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. Wilder, 412 P.3d 686 (Colo. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinions

Opinion by JUDGE RICHMAN

¶ 1 Defendant, Terrance Wilder, stands convicted of first degree murder after deliberation (Count 1), second degree murder (Count 2), attempted first degree murder (Count 3), and conspiracy to commit first degree murder (Count 4). He appeals the trial court's order denying his motions for postconviction relief seeking resentencing on all convictions. We conclude that defendant's sentence on Count 1 must be vacated, and the case remanded for resentencing on that count consistent with the decision in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012). We do not reach his claim for resentencing on the other counts.

I. Background

¶ 2 In 1998, at the age of seventeen, defendant conspired to murder his codefendant's husband and landlord. Defendant and his codefendant invited the two men to the house they were renting from the landlord. The husband did not arrive, but the landlord arrived with a friend. After an argument, the codefendant shot both the landlord and his friend several times. Defendant and his codefendant then left the house. The landlord's friend died from the gunshot wounds. The landlord, however, did not die immediately. The landlord crawled into the house, where he was discovered by another person who notified defendant that the landlord was still alive. Defendant returned to the house and killed the landlord by repeatedly bludgeoning his head with a baseball bat.

¶ 3 Defendant was convicted by a jury of first degree murder as to the landlord (a class 1 felony), second degree murder as to the landlord's friend (a class 2 felony), attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder as to the husband (both class 2 felonies), and being an accessory to a class 1 or class 2 felony. In special interrogatories, a jury also found the presence of two sentencing aggravators: that defendant or his codefendant (1) possessed, used, or threatened use of a deadly weapon; and (2) caused the death or serious bodily injury of a person.

¶ 4 The trial court sentenced defendant to life without the possibility of parole on the class 1 felony, according to the mandatory sentencing statute in place at the time. In imposing the sentence, the judge emphasized the mandatory nature of the sentence, stating that the "charge of murder in the first *688degree requires that the Court impose a sentence that is required by law of life in prison without possibility of parole." It sentenced defendant to serve forty-eight-year terms for the three class 2 felonies, consecutive to the life sentence and to one another.1 Defendant was sentenced to serve twelve years for the accessory count, concurrent to the other sentences.

¶ 5 Following a direct appeal, a division of this court reversed defendant's accessory conviction and affirmed his remaining convictions. People v. Wilder, (Colo. App. No. 99CA1479, Aug. 16, 2001) (not published pursuant to C.A.R. 35(f) ) (Wilder I ).

¶ 6 Defendant then filed a pro se Crim. P. 35(c) motion, alleging that his convictions were unconstitutional because the trial court did not properly advise him of the right to testify, and that his trial counsel was ineffective for not objecting to the trial court's inadequate advisement. The postconviction court denied the motion in a summary order, and a division of this court affirmed the order on appeal. People v. Wilder, 2008 WL 2536265 (Colo. App. No. 05CA2064, June 26, 2008) (not published pursuant to C.A.R. 35(f) ) ( Wilder II ).

¶ 7 In 2011, defendant filed a second pro se Crim. P. 35(c) motion in which he asserted that his sentence to life without parole for the class 1 felony was unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment and disproportionate given his juvenile status at the time he committed the crime. Defendant cited both case law and psychological literature indicating that juveniles are different from adults, and asserted that this difference must be considered when sentencing juvenile offenders. Defendant was appointed postconviction counsel, who supplemented defendant's motion with a Crim. P. 35(b) motion in which he argued for a reduction of sentence based on good behavior while incarcerated and stated that defendant was willing to comply with any conditions imposed by the court.

¶ 8 The postconviction court denied both motions without a hearing. In its written order, the postconviction court noted that the United States Supreme Court was then considering this issue, and invited defendant to file a second motion within ninety days of the announcement of any decision by the Supreme Court if it decided the issue differently. Defendant did not file any further motions. This appeal followed.

II. Constitutionality of Defendant's Sentence

¶ 9 On appeal, defendant asserts that (1) his mandatory sentence to life without the possibility of parole for the first degree murder conviction is unconstitutional and (2) the aggregate of his remaining convictions results in an unconstitutional de facto sentence to life without parole. We agree that defendant's mandatory sentence to life without parole is unconstitutional and must be vacated, but decline to reach his second contention.

A. Mandatory Life Sentence Without the Possibility of Parole

1. Preservation and Standard of Review

¶ 10 "The summary denial of a Crim. P. 35(c) motion for postconviction relief without a hearing presents a question of law we review de novo." People v. Rainer, 2013 COA 51, ¶ 15, 412 P.3d 520 (cert. granted Dec. 22, 2014). We also review de novo "the constitutionality of a trial court's sentencing determination." People v. Gutierrez-Ruiz, 2014 COA 109, ¶ 19, 383 P.3d 44.

¶ 11 A court's review of a Crim. P. 35(b) motion focuses on the fairness of the sentence in light of the purposes of the sentencing laws. A decision to reduce a sentence based on a Crim. P. 35(b) motion generally remains within the sound discretion of the trial court. People v. Dunlap, 36 P.3d 778, 780 (Colo. 2001).

¶ 12 The People concede that the Supreme Court's decision in Miller applies retroactively to defendant's sentence and that defendant *689properly preserved for appellate review his challenge to the mandatory life without parole sentence.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Caldwell v. Mississippi
472 U.S. 320 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Teague v. Lane
489 U.S. 288 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Saffle v. Parks
494 U.S. 484 (Supreme Court, 1990)
Sawyer v. Smith
497 U.S. 227 (Supreme Court, 1990)
Espinosa v. Florida
505 U.S. 1079 (Supreme Court, 1992)
Lambrix v. Singletary
520 U.S. 518 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Atkins v. Virginia
536 U.S. 304 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Ring v. Arizona
536 U.S. 584 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Schriro v. Summerlin
542 U.S. 348 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Roper v. Simmons
543 U.S. 551 (Supreme Court, 2005)
Whorton v. Bockting
549 U.S. 406 (Supreme Court, 2007)
In Re Sparks
657 F.3d 258 (Fifth Circuit, 2011)
Kamil Hakeem Johnson v. United States
720 F.3d 720 (Eighth Circuit, 2013)
Michael Pendleton v.
732 F.3d 280 (Third Circuit, 2013)
People v. Montgomery
669 P.2d 1387 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1983)
People v. Corral
174 P.3d 837 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2007)
People v. Johnson
142 P.3d 722 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2006)
People v. Dunlap
36 P.3d 778 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2001)
Torvos Simpson
555 F. App'x 369 (Fifth Circuit, 2014)
Evans-Garcia v. United States
744 F.3d 235 (First Circuit, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
412 P.3d 686, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-wilder-coloctapp-2015.