Page v. People, 2017 CO 88

Defendant Jamey Page entered the home of an 86-year-old woman, sexually assaulted her, and bled on her clothing; DNA linked Page to the victim’s stained clothing.
A jury convicted Page of sexual assault involving an at‑risk adult and unlawful sexual contact involving an at‑risk adult (among other offenses).
Trial court sentenced Page to 24 years to life for sexual assault and 18 months (concurrent) for unlawful sexual contact; attempted sexual assault was merged into sexual assault at trial.
The court of appeals declined to merge the unlawful sexual contact conviction into the sexual assault conviction, relying on People v. Loyas.
The Colorado Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether unlawful sexual contact is a lesser included offense of sexual assault and thus must merge under Colorado law.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether unlawful sexual contact is a lesser included offense of sexual assault (by penetration)	Page: unlawful sexual contact’s elements are a subset of sexual assault, so convictions must merge	People: unlawful sexual contact requires proof of sexual purpose and knowledge of nonconsent, which sexual assault (by penetration) does not explicitly require	Court: unlawful sexual contact is a lesser included offense of sexual assault by means of penetration and convictions must merge

Reyna-Abarca v. People, 390 P.3d 816 (Colo. 2017) (adopts statutory-elements test to determine lesser-included offenses and merger)
Dunton v. People, 898 P.2d 571 (Colo. 1995) (knowing causation of submission vitiates the need to prove separate awareness of nonconsent)
Woellhaf v. People, 105 P.3d 209 (Colo. 2005) (multiple punishments barred unless legislature authorizes)
People v. Loyas, 259 P.3d 505 (Colo. App. 2010) (prior division held unlawful sexual contact not a lesser included offense of penetration‑based sexual assault; overruled to extent inconsistent)
People v. Torres, 224 P.3d 268 (Colo. App. 2009) (standard of review for merger questions)