The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado v. Jeffrey Thomas CAIME

2021 COA 134, 503 P.3d 940
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 4, 2021
DocketCourt of Appeals No. 18CA2423
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2021 COA 134 (The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado v. Jeffrey Thomas CAIME) 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
The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado v. Jeffrey Thomas CAIME, 2021 COA 134, 503 P.3d 940 (Colo. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

503 P.3d 940
2021 COA 134

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Jeffrey Thomas CAIME, Defendant-Appellant.

Court of Appeals No. 18CA2423

Colorado Court of Appeals, Division IV.

Announced November 4, 2021


Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, Jillian J. Price, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee

Megan A. Ring, Colorado State Public Defender, Chelsea A. Mowrer, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant

Opinion by JUDGE TOW

¶ 1 Defendant, Jeffrey Thomas Caime, appeals the judgment of conviction entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of possession of a controlled substance as a special offender. In addition to challenging the conviction and the trial court's adjudication of him as a habitual offender, Caime attacks the adequacy of the trial court's proportionality review of his habitual criminal sentence.

¶ 2 Although we discern no basis to reverse the conviction or the habitual offender adjudication, we conclude that Caime is entitled to a new proportionality review. In reaching this conclusion, we hold as a matter of first impression that vehicular assault (reckless driving) is not a per se grave or serious offense. Thus, we affirm the conviction but vacate the sentence and remand for further proceedings.

I. Factual Background

¶ 3 The following evidence was presented at trial.

¶ 4 Two officers spotted a parked car that had been reported stolen. After an altercation, officers placed both occupants of the vehicle — Caime (the driver) and Mark Penman (the passenger) — in custody. Upon searching the car, officers found a gun in between the driver's seat and center console and a bag of methamphetamine on the driver's side floorboard.

¶ 5 Officers interviewed Caime and Penman. In Caime's interview, a recording of

503 P.3d 944

which was played at trial, he admitted that he dealt methamphetamine, possessed methamphetamine that day, and was there to sell some to Penman. Penman testified at trial that he remembered telling officers in his interview that he was there to buy methamphetamine from Caime and that Caime was his only dealer. Penman also testified that there was a gun in the car.

¶ 6 Caime was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession with intent to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance, and possession of a weapon by a previous offender (POWPO). He was also charged with special offender and habitual criminal sentencing counts. The jury convicted Caime of possession of a controlled substance and found that he was a special offender. The trial court adjudicated Caime a habitual offender and, after conducting an abbreviated proportionality review, imposed the statutorily mandated sixty-four-year sentence for his conviction.1

¶ 7 Caime now appeals, raising four contentions. He contends that the court reversibly erred by admitting res gestae or prior act evidence at trial. He also contends that the special offender count was constructively amended. He contends the trial court reversibly erred by admitting improper hearsay evidence during the habitual criminal proceeding. And he contends that the trial court conducted an inadequate abbreviated proportionality review of his habitual offender sentence. We reject his first three contentions but agree with his fourth.

II. Admitting Res Gestae or CRE 404(b) Evidence was not Reversible Error

¶ 8 Caime argues that the trial court reversibly erred by admitting evidence of his history of dealing drugs as res gestae evidence and by admitting such evidence without the protective measures required by CRE 404(b). The People assume, without conceding, that the trial court erroneously admitted the evidence but argue that any error was harmless. We agree with the People.

A. Additional Facts

¶ 9 The trial court permitted the jury to hear the following evidence:

• Caime's recorded interview, in which he told police that he would give Penman "dope" in exchange for tools or electronics, and that was "pretty much" their relationship;

• Penman's testimony that he saw Caime "once or twice a year" and that he did not remember making the statement to Officer Jonathan Dennis that he purchased methamphetamine from Caime two or three times a week; and

• Officer Dennis's testimony that Penman told him "[Caime] was his only dealer" and he purchased methamphetamine from Caime "three or four times a month."

¶ 10 Before the jury heard Officer Dennis's testimony, the judge gave the jury the following limiting instruction: "you are only to consider that statement as it relates to Mr. Penman's credibility. You are not to consider it for any other reason." Caime's counsel objected to the three statements but did not object to the limiting instruction.

B. Standard of Review and Applicable Law

¶ 11 We review a trial court's evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion. People v. Rath , 44 P.3d 1033, 1043 (Colo. 2002). "[W]e review nonconstitutional trial errors that were preserved by objection for harmless error." Hagos v. People , 2012 CO 63, ¶ 12, 288 P.3d 116. "[W]e reverse if the error ‘substantially influenced the verdict or affected the fairness of the trial proceedings.’ " Id. (quoting Tevlin v. People , 715 P.2d 338, 342 (Colo. 1986) ). Any preserved error will be disregarded as harmless when "there is no reasonable probability that it contributed to the defendant's conviction." Crider v. People , 186 P.3d 39, 42 (Colo. 2008).

C. Analysis

¶ 12 We agree with the People's argument that the relevance of these statements relates to whether Caime had the intent to manufacture or distribute the methamphetamine.

503 P.3d 945

The jury acquitted Caime of that charge. Thus, any error was harmless. See Kreiser v. People , 199 Colo. 20, 24, 604 P.2d 27, 30 (1979).

¶ 13 Even if we were to accept Caime's view that the challenged statements were relevant to the charge of simple possession of methamphetamine, any error would be harmless. The jury heard Caime say in his interview, "I had my, my dope in my hand."2 Caime's independent admission that he was holding "dope" is overwhelming evidence that supports his conviction for possession of a controlled substance. Thus, there is no reasonable probability that the challenged statements substantially influenced the verdict or impaired the fairness of the trial. See People v. Herron , 251 P.3d 1190, 1198 (Colo. App. 2010).

¶ 14 Finally, we presume that a jury follows the trial court's limiting instructions. See Cordova v. People , 880 P.2d 1216, 1220 (Colo. 1994). There is nothing in the record to indicate that the jury here did not.

¶ 15 We therefore discern no reversible error.

III. The Special Offender Jury Instruction was not Plainly Erroneous

¶ 16 Caime next contends that the jury instruction regarding the special offender sentencing factor constructively amended that charge. We disagree.

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2021 COA 134, 503 P.3d 940, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-people-of-the-state-of-colorado-v-jeffrey-thomas-caime-coloctapp-2021.