People v. Casias, 2012 COA 117

Casias was convicted by jury of first-degree murder of his seven-week-old daughter J.C. in a position-of-trust context and of knowing or reckless child abuse resulting in death; sentences were concurrent life without parole on murder and 24 years on abuse.
J.C. presented at the hospital awake and responsive, but became unresponsive and died the following morning; Casias claimed he attempted to help after she began choking.
Medical experts opined that J.C.’s injuries were nonaccidental traumatic brain injury from shaking or impact, with skull and rib fractures, retinal hemorrhages, and brain swelling; some injuries were alleged to be recent.
Casias’ girlfriend testified to a prior fall seven to ten days before death, suggesting a possible accidental cause; Casias’ expert questioned the causation and noted potential alternatives.
During trial, the prosecution introduced evidence of two prior acts of abuse involving Casias’ other child A.C. to show knowledge/absence of mistake; the court admitted some of this evidence under CRE 404(b) with limiting instructions; the defense challenged the video-conferencing feasibility of an expert and the admissibility of other acts.
The majority affirms the judgments, addressing the video-testimony ruling, the admissibility of other acts, and the harmless-error analysis, while a dissent would reverse for a new trial due to prejudicial impact of the other-acts evidence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Video-conferencing testimony of defense expert	Casias asserts denial violated his rights to present a defense	Video would permit effective cross-examination and demeanor assessment	Court did not abuse discretion; in-person testimony permitted unless limited circumstances apply
Admission of A.C. other acts to prove knowledge or recklessness	Acts show defendant’s guilty knowledge/reckless conduct toward J.C.	Acts are dissimilar and not probative of the charged mental states	Abuse of discretion to admit for knowledge/recklessness; evidence deemed not probative due to dissimilarity
Admission of A.C. other acts to prove absence of mistake	Acts show absence of mistake/accident	Acts do not plausibly relate to accident/innocent mistake	Abuse of discretion to admit for absence of mistake; error deemed harmless by majority

People v. Rath, 44 P.3d 1083 (Colo. 2002) (admissibility of other-bad-acts evidence under CRE 404(b))
Spoto v. People, 772 P.2d 631 (Colo.App.1988) (similarity required when using doctrine of chances to prove intent)
Mata-Medina v. People, 71 P.3d 973 (Colo.2008) (standard for knowing/reckless culpable mental states)
People v. Deskins, 927 P.2d 368 (Colo.1996) (culpable mental states in child abuse—knowing/reckless)
Yusem v. People, 210 P.3d 458 (Colo.2009) (harmless error standard for nonconstitutional errors)
State v. Knight, 734 P.2d 913 (Utah 1987) (framework for harmless error review and reasonable probability)