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    Colorado Sex Crimes Sentencing – The Dangers Of A Deferred Judgement To A Liftetime Sentence

    What follows is a recent case involving a Defendant to was placed on a four year deferred judgement to a lifetime sex offense crime in Colorado.  The decision is instruction because it establishes what can go wrong when a system puts such a heavy burden on an individual to succeed at what can only be termed – “extrordinarily difficult” intensive superision probation.

    Here is a summary of the 2012 decision followed by a link to the original decision itself:

    Defendant appealed the revocation of his deferred judgment conviction. The judgment was affirmed.

    In 2003, defendant was charged with three counts of class 3 felony sexual assault and three counts of class 4 felony sexual assault. Defendant entered into a deferred judgment, subsequently violated the conditions of the deferred judgment, waived any further advisement on revocation of the deferred judgment, and admitted to violating the deferred judgment. The trial court sentenced him on revocation of the deferred judgment and denied his post-conviction motions.

    Defendant contended that the second judge’s denial of his post-conviction motions was error. Specifically, he argued that the Constitution’s Due Process Clause requires that the second judge advise him of the penalties he faced if the deferred judgment agreement were to be revoked. The Court of Appeals disagreed. Plea counsel, in defendant’s presence, waived defendant’s statutory right to be advised of the possible penalties defendant faced if the deferred judgment agreement were to be revoked. By its terms, Crim.P. 11 expressly applies to the entry of the guilty plea. Crim.P. 11 does not require the court to inform defendant of the possible penalties he could face when revoking the deferred judgment agreement in which he expressly waived a formal advisement and for which he repeatedly was informed of the potential penalties.

    Defendant raised two contentions about the sentencing hearing. He argued that the fifth judge (1) denied him his right to offer mitigating evidence at the sentencing hearing when the court denied plea counsel’s motion to continue the hearing; and (2) ignored mitigating evidence when he imposed sentence. However, defendant did not demonstrate that he actually was prejudiced by the trial court’s decision to deny his request for a continuance. As a result, the fifth judge did not abuse his discretion when he denied that motion. Further, defendant did not raise the issue of mitigation before the trial court, so the Court declined to address that issue.

    Defendant also argued that (1) the second judge unreasonably limited the evidence he could submit at the post-conviction hearing; and (2) plea counsel was ineffective in his representation of defendant during the deferred judgment revocation process. The Court disagreed. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by limiting the time in which defendant presented evidence on his allegation either that plea counsel was ineffective or that the court erroneously denied his motion to reconsider his sentence. Defendant had sufficient opportunity to present evidence in support of his post-conviction claims. Further, the record does not support a conclusion that there was a reasonable probability that, but for plea counsel’s alleged errors, defendant would not have confessed the motion to revoke his deferred judgment and would have insisted on having a hearing on the motion. Therefore, defendant was not prejudiced by plea counsel’s alleged deficient performance.

    Defendant asserted, and the prosecution conceded, that the mittimus incorrectly stated that his sentence includes a mandatory three-year term of parole. Under CRS § 18-1.3-1006(1)(b), defendant’s conviction required a ten-year-to-life parole term. Thus, the case was remanded to correct the mittimus to reflect the proper parole term.

    Here are some emotional excerpts from the decision:

    In December 2008, plea counsel and defendant appeared before a fifth judge for sentencing. Plea counsel requested that the court continue the sentencing hearing for thirty days. He stated that the community corrections facility had rejected defendant, and plea counsel wanted additional time “to see if [they] could get him in there.” He told the court:

    [Y]our sentence is mandated at two [years] to life [by the deferred judgment agreement]. I don’t know what I can say to this court to mitigate it. This is a sentence basically sentencing this man to life in prison, and we asked for a 30-day continuance to go over the pre-sentence report with him, and that’s what I’m asking the court once again to do.

    When asked if he wished to address the court before it imposed sentence, defendant stated that he felt he had complied with the conditions of the deferred judgment agreement. He added that he found out two days before Thanksgiving that the community corrections facility had rejected him, and “[N]ow I’m going to go to prison for the rest of my life.”

    People v. Finney

     

     

     

     

     

     


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    ___________________________
    H. Michael Steinberg Esq.
    Attorney and Counselor at Law
    The Colorado Criminal Defense Law Firm of H. Michael Steinberg
    A Denver, Colorado Lawyer Focused Exclusively On
    Colorado Criminal Law For Over 40 Years.
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