Raymond JUHL, Petitioner v. The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Respondent.
No. 06SC637.
Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.
Dec. 17, 2007.
172 P.3d 896
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
I am authorized to say that CHIEF JUSTICE MULLARKEY and JUSTICE RICE join in this dissent.
Raymond JUHL, Petitioner
v.
The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Respondent.
No. 06SC637.
Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.
Dec. 17, 2007.
subscriber or wireless telephone service subscriber in this state shall register . . .” (emphasis added). I agree with the county court and district court‘s factual and legal conclusions that Jan-Pro was under no such obligation because it does not operate as a solicitor of residential subscriber lines. The majority cites
John W. Suthers, Attorney General, Laurie A. Booras, First Assistant Attorney General, Appellate Division, Criminal Justice Section, Denver, Colorado, Attorneys for Respondent.
Justice MARTINEZ delivered the Opinion of the Court.
We granted certiorari to review the trial court‘s statutory authority to impose consecutive rather than concurrent sentences for defendant Raymond Juhl‘s convictions for first degree assault and vehicular assault. Both charges, to which Juhl pleaded guilty, arose out of his head-on collision with the victim‘s truck after a high-speed chase in which Juhl attempted to elude the police. On appeal, Juhl contended that the sentences imposed for his first degree assault and vehicular assault pleas should run concurrently pursuant to
We find that the court of appeals misinterpreted
I. Facts and Procedural History
On December 4, 2003, Commerce City police officers attempted to stop Raymond Juhl after they witnessed Juhl driving eighty-five miles per hour in a thirty-five mile per hour zone and running a stop sign without stopping.1 However, Juhl refused to stop, and a high-speed chase ensued. As he later told a police investigator, Juhl thought it would be fun to try and outrun the police. At the time of the chase, Juhl was under the influence of methamphetamine and had a large quantity of methamphetamine in his shirt pocket.
Over the course of the twenty-mile chase, Juhl reached speeds of up to one hundred miles per hour, forced other cars off the road, weaved into the oncoming lane of traffic, cut through a parking lot and a construction site, and disregarded multiple stop signs and red lights. The chase ended when Juhl sped into an intersection, lost control of his vehicle, and struck a small truck head-on. The passenger in the truck, fourteen-year-old Brandon Magnuson, was killed. Julie Ann Bailey, the boy‘s mother and the driver of the truck, suffered serious injuries, leaving her with long term speech and cognitive difficulties.
On October 24, 2004, Juhl pleaded guilty to five counts: second degree murder, vehicular homicide, first degree assault, vehicular assault, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.2 Based on the trial court‘s determination, these charges, if all served consecutively, could carry a minimum sentence of thirty-nine years and a maximum sentence of 121 years.3 Under the terms of the plea agreement, however, the total sentence was to be capped at sixty years imprisonment.
The court sentenced Juhl to twenty-five years for the second degree murder conviction, six years for the vehicular homicide, fifteen years for the first degree assault, three years for the vehicular assault, and ten years for the possession with intent to distribute charge. The court specifically found the following: “[T]he Second Degree Murder, the Vehicular Homicide charges, arise out of the same criminal conduct, vis a vis Brandon Magnuson. The First Degree Assault and Vehicular Assault charges arise out of the same criminal conduct with regard to Mrs. Bailey.” The court ordered that the second degree murder sentence run concurrently with the vehicular homicide sentence,
On appeal, Juhl challenged the trial court‘s imposition of consecutive rather than concurrent sentences for the first degree assault and vehicular assault charges. Specifically, Juhl argued that
We granted certiorari to address whether the court of appeals misinterpreted the mandatory concurrent sentence provision in
II. Analysis
When a defendant is convicted of multiple offenses, the sentencing court has the discretion to impose either concurrent or consecutive sentences. Qureshi v. Dist. Court, 727 P.2d 45, 46-47 (Colo.1986). However, that discretion is statutorily limited by
When two or more offenses are charged as required by subsection (2) of this section and they are supported by identical evidence, the court upon application of the defendant may require the state, at the conclusion of all the evidence, to elect the count upon which the issues shall be tried. If more than one guilty verdict is returned as to any defendant in a prosecution where multiple counts are tried as required by subsection (2) of this section, the sentences imposed shall run concurrently; except that, where multiple victims are involved, the court may, within its discretion, impose consecutive sentences.
(Emphasis added). Thus, when multiple convictions involving one victim are supported by identical evidence, the statute strips the court of its standard sentencing discretion and mandates the imposition of concurrent sentences.
As a preliminary matter, we reject the People‘s argument that this statute does not apply in the instance where the defendant does not proceed to trial, but instead accepts a plea bargain. The People contend that because the statute uses language that generally pertains to trial proceedings, the defendant‘s right to the imposition of concurrent sentences is lost when he waives his right to a trial and enters a guilty plea. We disagree. We find that the defendant‘s right to the imposition of concurrent sentencing, pursuant to
In the criminal code,
Purpose. It is the intent of this part 4 to confer upon every person accused of an offense the benefits arising from said part 4 as a matter of substantive right, in implementation of minimum standards of criminal justice within the concept of due process of law.
Thus, the right to the imposition of concurrent sentences is conferred upon all defendants. It is true that a defendant necessarily waives some rights by pleading guilty, such as his privilege against compulsory self-incrimination, his right to trial by jury, and his right to confront his accusers. People v. Montour, 157 P.3d 489, 499 (Colo.2007). However, we stated in Montour that the “guilty plea only waives those rights that are incompatible with a guilty plea.” Id. For example, a defendant does not lose his right to counsel upon entering a guilty plea, but rather retains that right until the case is concluded. Id. The right to the imposition of concurrent sentences for convictions arising out of the same act or series of acts that are supported by identical evidence is not waived by a guilty plea.5 A guilty plea is the equivalent of a conviction.
Furthermore, although this court has not yet considered the issue, the Colorado Court of Appeals has consistently applied the concurrent sentencing requirement of
Finally, we note that construing the statute to allow the imposition of a more severe sentence for a guilty plea than for the exact same conviction that resulted from trial would likely raise constitutional concerns. See, e.g., People v. Mozee, 723 P.2d 117, 126 (Colo.1986) (“When two criminal statutes prescribe different penalties for identical conduct, a defendant convicted and sentenced under the harsher statute is denied equal protection of the laws.“). We cannot find that the General Assembly intended such an unjust and possibly unconstitutional result. See
We also reject the People‘s argument that because the defendant‘s plea was subject to a sentencing cap, the propriety of imposing a consecutive sentence is not reviewable on appeal under
We now turn to our analysis regarding when
In People v. Muckle, the defendant shot the victim once in the abdomen while the victim was seated on the couch and then fired a second shot, hitting the victim in the arm as the victim was fleeing the room. 107 P.3d at 383. We found that the acts on which the defendant‘s heat-of-passion manslaughter and first degree assault convictions were based were sufficiently separate. Id. at 383-84. Therefore, the evidence supported a finding that the convictions were based on separate acts, concurrent sentencing was not mandated, and the trial court retained its discretion to impose consecutive sentences. Id.
Similarly, in Qureshi, we held that concurrent sentences were not required where the defendant‘s convictions for first degree as-
In sum, we have consistently analyzed “identical evidence” by considering whether the acts underlying the convictions were sufficiently separate. Consequently, we find that the court of appeals incorrectly interpreted “identical evidence” to entail an analysis of the evidence necessary to prove the elements of the offenses charged. The court of appeals held that evidence is identical when one charge requires proof of at least one fact not required to prove an additional charge. Juhl, at 4. In effect, the court of appeals applied the “strict elements test” or the “Blockburger test” for the merger of lesser included offenses. See People v. Leske, 957 P.2d 1030, 1036 (Colo.1998) (explaining the strict elements and Blockburger tests). In contrast, we have previously stated that the test for identical evidence is an evidentiary test rather than an elemental test. Id. Thus, the court of appeals erred by focusing on the elements of the crimes charged and analyzing whether one charge required proof of at least one fact not necessary to prove the other charge.
Furthermore, we also reject the People‘s contention that the evidence here is not identical because the elements of the vehicular assault charge require the proof of different facts than are required by the elements of the first degree assault charge. Specifically, the People assert that vehicular assault requires proof that Juhl “recklessly” drove a motor vehicle, which the People argue was proved by Juhl‘s act of entering the intersection at a high rate of speed and losing control of his vehicle after cutting sharply to the left. In contrast, the first degree assault requires proof of “extreme indifference,” which the People contend was proved by Juhl‘s conduct in engaging in a lengthy high-speed chase while under the influence of methamphetamine just for the “fun” of seeing if he could outrun the police. We reject this approach because, like the court of appeals’ analysis, it incorrectly focuses on what evidence is necessarily required to prove the elements of a conviction rather than what evidence supports the conviction. Although it is correct that the elements of vehicular assault do not necessarily require evidence of attempting to elude the police to show recklessness, it cannot be said that a charge of vehicular assault is not supported by such evidence. As our caselaw reveals, whether two charges are supported by identical evidence is not a strict analysis to determine if one particular fact is necessary to one conviction, but not the other, thereby making the evidence identical or not identical. Rather, whether the evidence supporting the offenses is identical turns on whether the charges result from the same act, so that the evidence of the act is identical, or from two or more acts fairly considered to be separate acts, so that the evidence is different. See Muckle, 107 P.3d at 383.
Here, Juhl‘s act of colliding head-on with Mrs. Bailey‘s truck while he was engaged in a high-speed chase to elude the police was the basis of both the first degree assault and vehicular assault charges. It was this single collision that resulted in serious bodily injury to Mrs. Bailey. Unlike the cases we have previously addressed regarding identical evidence, where there were two shots fired at different times or where two attacks occurred in different places, the act that was the basis of Juhl‘s first degree assault conviction cannot be logically separated from the act that formed the basis of the vehicular assault conviction. The evidence can support no reasonable inference that the
Furthermore, the trial court made specific findings that the vehicular assault and first degree assault charges arose out of the same criminal episode. Specifically, the trial court found that the second degree murder and vehicular homicide charges arose out of the same criminal conduct, “vis a vis Brandon Magnuson,” and that the first degree assault and vehicular assault arose out of the same criminal conduct with regard to Mrs. Bailey. Because the trial court determined that the second degree murder and vehicular homicide charges required concurrent sentencing based on the finding that they arose out of the same criminal conduct and were thus supported by identical evidence, we cannot reasonably conclude that the vehicular assault and first degree assault were not equally supported by identical evidence. Consequently, we find that Juhl‘s assault convictions were supported by identical evidence and that the trial court was mandated by statute to impose concurrent rather than consecutive sentences for the first degree assault and vehicular assault convictions.
III. Conclusion
Because the trial court did not have the statutory authority to impose consecutive sentences, we reverse and return the decision to the court of appeals with directions to remand to the trial court for amendment of the mittimus to reflect that the three-year conviction for vehicular assault is to run concurrent with the fifteen-year conviction for first degree assault.
Justice COATS dissents.
Justice COATS, dissenting.
While I agree that the court of appeals went too far in declaring crimes with different elements incapable of proof by identical evidence, I would nevertheless affirm its judgment on other grounds. I believe the majority errs in treating guilty pleas as requiring evidentiary support at all, much less as being supported by evidence that is identical to evidence supporting other guilty pleas. Of at least equal significance, however, I believe the majority‘s explanation for finding
Although it is not entirely clear from the words of the statute itself, we have long held that the “supported by identical evidence” prerequisite of subsection (3)‘s election option applies equally to its prohibition of consecutive sentences for offenses mandatorily joined as acts constituting a single criminal episode. See People v. Anderson, 187 Colo. 171, 529 P.2d 310 (1974). As the majority easily demonstrates, the statute in no way evidences a legislative intent to exempt guilty pleas from this sentencing limitation or to permit longer sentences for convictions acquired by guilty plea, and the very suggestion of such a policy choice appears to be a straw man to be knocked down. Policy notwithstanding, however, guilty pleas, by their very nature, simply cannot be controlled by this statute.
Guilty pleas, by their very nature, are not based on evidentiary proof. They result from a defendant‘s admission of guilt and the waiver of his right to proof that he committed the elements of a crime. While courts receiving guilty pleas must insure the existence of a factual basis, as a safeguard against erroneous pleas, a factual basis is not an offer of proof, and guilty pleas need not be supported by an offer of proof, much less by actual evidence.
Nor does this difference between convictions acquired by plea and those actually proved at a trial place pleading defendants at a disadvantage or subject them to unequal treatment. Guilty pleas are entirely voluntary and may not be entered without the informed consent of the defendant. Defendants may condition their consent on both charge and sentence concessions and pre-
Nor does the majority attempt to identify the particular evidence used to support each of the assault convictions in this case. Quite the contrary, it explains that the question of identical evidence for purposes of
Although we have previously upheld consecutive sentences for crimes committed as part of a single criminal episode upon a demonstration that they were supported by evidence of different criminal acts, see, e.g., People v. Muckle, 107 P.3d 380, 383 (Colo. 2005); Qureshi v. Dist. Ct., 727 P.2d 45, 47 (Colo.1986), we have never before held that such crimes are considered to be supported by identical evidence within the meaning of
Since a single criminal act can clearly have more than one victim, it is difficult to square the majority rationale with the logic of the legislature‘s express treatment of criminal episodes involving multiple victims as falling outside the ban on consecutive sentences. See
Both constitutional and statutory limitations prevent multiple convictions for offenses that are related in various ways. In the very statute at issue in this case, see
Because I believe the majority opinion expands the “identical evidence” prerequisite of
Justice EID does not participate.
BENJAMIN MARTINEZ
JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT OF COLORADO
