Pineda-Liberato v. People

2017 CO 95, 403 P.3d 160
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedOctober 2, 2017
DocketSupreme Court Case 15SC374
StatusPublished
Cited by110 cases

This text of 2017 CO 95 (Pineda-Liberato v. People) 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
Pineda-Liberato v. People, 2017 CO 95, 403 P.3d 160 (Colo. 2017).

Opinions

JUSTICE GABRIEL

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 This case concerns the district court’s authority to continue to collect from the petitioner, Karla Pineda-Liberato, unpaid restitution, court costs, and fees ordered as conditions of a deferred sentence after the completion of that deferred sentence.1 The case comes to us on review of two orders from the Weld County District Court, the first finding that the court lacked authority to collect unpaid restitution (but that avenues potentially remained open for the vie-tim to do so), and the second finding that the court lacked authority to collect unpaid fees and costs.

¶ 2 With respect to restitution, we conclude that the pertinent statutes allow the district court to collect any unpaid amounts from Pineda-Liberato after the completion of her deferred sentence, until the restitution has been paid in full. With respect to the fees and costs ordered as probationary-like supervision conditions, however,1 we conclude- that the district court lacked the authority’ to collect such unpaid amounts after it terminated Pineda-Liberato’s deferred sentence, withdrew her guilty plea, and dismissed her case with prejudice. .

¶3 Accordingly, we affirm in part and reverse in part the district court’s orders.

I. Facts and Procedural History

¶ 4 The People charged Pineda-Liberato with two felony counts, of theft ($500 to $15,000) and two felony counts of providing false information to a pawn broker after she pawned a laptop computer and a television that she had rented from" Rent-A-Center.

¶ 5 Eventually, Pineda-Liberato entered into a plea agreement under wliich (1) she would plead guilty to one count of theft; (2) she would receive “a two-year deferred sentence with terms and conditions to include 48 hours of useful public service, pay restitution as ordered by the eourt, and any other terms and conditions the court deems appropriate”; and (3) the People would dismiss the remaining counts. In addition to these terms, the agreement contained a handwritten addendum that read, “No jail at initial sentencing.” If Pineda-Liberato complied with the terms of her deferred sentence, then, according to the parties’ Stipulation for Supervised Deferred Sentence, Pineda-Liberato could withdraw her guilty plea and the theft charge would be dismissed with prejudice.

¶ 6 On November 14, 2006, the district court accepted the terms of the plea agree[162]*162ment, Pineda-Liberato pleaded guilty to one count of theft, and the court dismissed the three, remaining charges against her. The court also sentenced Pineda-Liberato to a two-year deferred sentence to be supervised by the probation department.

¶7 Pursuant to the above-described plea agreement, the conditions of the deferred sentence included requirements that Pineda-Liberato pay fees and costs in the amount of $1572.60, complete forty-eight hours of community service, and , comply with certain probationary-like “standard conditions” (such as a mandate that she not leave the state of Colorado without written permission ■ from her probation officer or the court).'

¶ 8 The fees and costs imposed as a condition of Pineda-Liberato’s deferred sentence comprised the following:

• Victim compensation cost: $126
• Victim assistance surcharge: $162.50
• Time payment fee: $25
• Supervision fee: $1200
• Court costs—docket fee: $35
• Public defender fee: $25 ‘

¶ 9 After a hearing on December 13, 2006, the court further ordered Pineda-Liberato to pay $152045 in restitution to Rent-A-Center.

¶ 10 In September 2007, the People filed a revocation complaint. According to the complaint, Pineda-Liberato had been detained by federal immigration authorities on July 31, 2007 and deported two days later. As a result, she had “failed to complete her responsibilities under the sentence of Probation [sic].” In order to ensure her return to court should she reenter the United States, the Pepple asked the court to issue a warrant for her arrest.

' ¶ 11 The court did so, but the authorities did not arrest Pineda-Liberato, and the court never ruled on the revocation complaint. Instead, for reasons not pertinent here, in 2012, the People moved to “vacate” the warrant and to issue, instead, a summons requiring Pineda-Liberato to appear and to show cause why her probation should not be revoked and the deferred sentence should not be imposed. The court granted the People’s motion and issued the summons.

¶ 12 In October 2013, six years after the People had asked the court to revoke Pineda-Liberato’s deferred sentence, the People moved to withdraw their revocation complaint, “terminate probation/deferred judgment and sentence as completed, and vacate the upcoming court date.” The court granted this motion on the day that it was filed, ordering that “the revocation complaint in the above-entitled matter be and hereby is withdrawn and probation be terminated.” As of that time, Pineda-Liberato had paid $992 toward the court costs, fees, and restitution originally ordered. Of that amount, $704.50 had been applied to restitution, leaving a balance of $815.95 owed to Rent-A-Center.

¶ 13 Approximately one month later, the People sought, and the court imposed, an additional $520.25 in “transport fees” to be paid into the registry of the court. These fees reflected the costs that the Weld County Sheriffs Office had incurred in extraditing Pineda-Liberato from Texas to Colorado, and they brought the total court costs and fees that Pineda-Liberato owed to $1905.25.

¶ 14 Shortly thereafter, the district court sua sponte raised the question of whether it still had jurisdiction to collect restitution after the case had been dismissed “based upon the defendant otherwise having completed all other requirements of the deferred sentence except the payment of restitution.” The court held a hearing on the matter and on January 3, 2014, issued a written order' concluding that it did not. Specifically, the court found that once the People had withdrawn their revocation complaint and the case had been dismissed, the court no longer had jurisdiction over Pineda-Liberato and could no longer require her to pay restitution. The court was careful to note, howeveif, that because the restitution order constituted a “final civil judgment” pursuant to 18-1.3-603(4)(a), C.R.S. (2017), Rent-A-Centei’ could collect the unpaid balance of $815.95 “independently, through any legal means available to [it],”

¶ 15 In reaching this conclusion, the court relied on dicta from People v. Carbajal, 2012 COA 107, ¶ 49, 312 P.3d 1183, 1191 (Carbajal II), which the court interpreted as rendering the restitution order null and void when the case was dismissed. In addition, the court [163]*163noted that pursuant to both section 18-1.3-602(2), C.R.S. (2017), and section 18-1.3-603, C.R.S. (2017), once a person has successfully-completed a deferred sentence, his or her guilty plea is -withdrawn, and the case is dismissed, no conviction is. deemed to have existed.

¶ 16 Having obtained this ruling regarding her ongoing restitution obligations, Pineda-Liberato asked the court to address the same jurisdictional issue as to the previously ordered court costs and fees.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2017 CO 95, 403 P.3d 160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pineda-liberato-v-people-colo-2017.