v. Abad

2021 COA 6, 490 P.3d 1094
Colorado Court of Appeals·Decided January 28, 2021·No. 18CA0775, People·Published·Cited by 434 cases

Opinion

The summaries of the Colorado Court of Appeals published opinions constitute no part of the opinion of the division but have been prepared by the division for the convenience of the reader. The summaries may not be cited or relied upon as they are not the official language of the division. Any discrepancy between the language in the summary and in the opinion should be resolved in favor of the language in the opinion.

SUMMARY

January 28, 2021

2021COA6

No. 18CA0775, People v. Abad — Crimes — Sexual Exploitation of a Child; Constitutional Law — Fifth Amendment — Double Jeopardy — Multiplicity; Evidence — Authentication — Hearsay The prosecution charged the defendant with nine different counts of sexual exploitation of a child under section 18-6- 403(3)(b.5), C.R.S. 2020, based on his possession of photos found in a Dropbox account and photos and videos found on two phones that police recovered from his bedroom. On direct appeal, a division of the court of appeals considers the defendant’s contentions that the district court erred by (1) admitting unauthenticated evidence from a Dropbox account and two cell phones; (2) admitting hearsay testimony from two cell phone extraction reports; and (3) entering multiplicitous convictions in violation of double jeopardy.

The division finds no error as to issues one and two. As to issue three, the division concludes that where the evidence adduced at trial did not establish factually distinct acts of possession, the defendant’s convictions are multiplicitous and violate double jeopardy.

Consistent with People v. Bott, 2020 CO 86, the division concludes that simultaneous possession of any number of sexually exploitative items exceeding twenty constitutes a single offense. Extending Bott, the division concludes that simultaneous possession of more than one sexually exploitative video constitutes a single offense. Finally, the division concludes that the fact that the sexually exploitative material was found on three different electronic devices or storage sites, standing alone, does not establish factually distinct offenses justifying multiple convictions and punishments. Accordingly, the division merges the defendant’s convictions and remands for resentencing.

COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS 2021COA6

Court of Appeals No. 18CA0775 Jefferson County District Court No. 16CR3216 Honorable Christopher C. Zenisek, Judge

The People of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Zachariah Andrew Abad, Defendant-Appellant.

JUDGMENT AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND CASE REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS

Division VI

Opinion by JUDGE BROWN

Dunn and Freyre, JJ., concur

Announced January 28, 2021

Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, Brittany L. Limes, Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee

Megan A. Ring, Colorado State Public Defender, Meredith Rose, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant

¶1 A jury convicted defendant, Zachariah Andrew Abad, of nine counts of sexual exploitation of a child. On appeal, he contends that the district court erred by (1) admitting unauthenticated evidence from a Dropbox account and two cell phones; (2) admitting hearsay testimony from two cell phone extraction reports; and (3) entering multiplicitous convictions in violation of double jeopardy.

¶2 In resolving Abad’s third contention, infra Part III, we must apply the Colorado Supreme Court’s recent decision in People v. Bott, 2020 CO 86 (Bott II), and decide two related matters of first impression. Consistent with Bott II, we conclude that simultaneous possession of more than twenty items of sexually exploitative material constitutes a single offense under section 18-6-403(3)(b.5), C.R.S. 2020. Extending the rationale of Bott II, we conclude that simultaneous possession of multiple sexually exploitative videos constitutes a single offense under section 18-6-403(3)(b.5). And we conclude that the fact that sexually exploitative material was found on three different electronic devices or storage sites, standing alone, does not establish factually distinct offenses justifying multiple convictions and punishments.

¶3 Consequently, we conclude that Abad’s convictions are multiplicitous and violate double jeopardy. Accordingly, we merge his convictions and remand for resentencing, if necessary. We otherwise affirm the judgment.

I. Factual Background

¶4 Investigator Kevin Donahue of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Crimes Against Children Unit received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about photographs uploaded to a Dropbox account. The NCMEC believed the photographs were sexually exploitative images of children. The NCMEC provided Donahue a Yahoo email address and a list of IP addresses associated with the Dropbox account.

¶5 Based on this information, Donahue sent requests for production of records to, among others, Dropbox, Comcast, and Yahoo. In response, Yahoo produced subscriber information that included a phone number. Donahue ran the phone number through law enforcement databases and was able to link the number to Abad and obtain his address.

¶6 Once Donahue learned that Abad lived in Arvada, he transferred the case to the Arvada Police Department. The

information Donahue provided formed the basis for a search warrant. During the search of Abad’s house, police officers seized two cell phones from Abad’s bedroom — a Samsung Galaxy S-III (the S-III) and a Samsung Galaxy S-IV (the S-IV). The police downloaded the contents of the cell phones and found sexually exploitative images and videos of children on each device.

¶7 The prosecution charged Abad with nine class 4 felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child, based on his alleged possession of the photos found in Dropbox and the photos and videos found on the two phones. As detailed infra Part III.A, the jury convicted Abad of eight class 4 felonies and one class 6 felony. The district court sentenced him to six years each on the class 4 felonies and eighteen months on the class 6 felony, all sentences to run concurrently.

II. Admissibility of Evidence A. Standard of Review

¶8 We review all evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion. People v. Glover, 2015 COA 16, ¶ 10. A trial court abuses its discretion when its ruling is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair, or if it misapplies the law. Campbell v. People, 2019 CO 66, ¶ 21; People v. Jefferson, 2017 CO 35, ¶ 25.

B. Dropbox Evidence

¶9 Abad contends that the district court erred by admitting the images found in Dropbox because they were not properly authenticated. We disagree.

1. Additional Factual Background

¶ 10 At trial, Donahue testified that after he received the cyber tip from the NCMEC about a particular Dropbox account that might contain sexually exploitative material, he sent a request for production of records — “basically a search warrant for business records” — to Dropbox “for the subscriber information and content of that Dropbox account.” Dropbox responded with the subscriber information for the account, which included Abad’s name, an email address, and a list of IP addresses.1 Dropbox also sent a thumb drive “that contained the contents of [the account].” Donahue followed instructions to decrypt and view the thumb drive’s contents. Then he copied the contents of the thumb drive onto a disc.

1 The prosecution did not admit the Dropbox subscriber evidence for the truth of the matter asserted but instead to explain Donahue’s investigation.

¶ 11 When the prosecutor asked Donahue what he found on the thumb drive, Abad’s attorney objected based on lack of authentication. In response, the district court ruled that the prosecutor could lay more foundation to show that the evidence was what the prosecution purported it to be — “information returned from Dropbox pursuant to [Donahue’s] investigation.”

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v. Abad, 2021 COA 6, 490 P.3d 1094 (Colo. Ct. App. 2021).

2021 COA 6 (v. Abad) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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