Jones v. District Court In and For Routt County, 27972
| Citation | 584 P.2d 81,196 Colo. 261 |
| Decision Date | 05 September 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 27972,27972 |
| Parties | Ralph JONES, Petitioner, v. DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR the COUNTY OF ROUTT, State of Colorado, the HonorableDonald Lorenz, District Court Judge and, Billy Joe West, Respondents. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Yegge, Hall & Evans, Daniel S. Maus, Steamboat Springs, Robert S. Treece, Carol M. Welch, Denver, for petitioner.
Vance E. Halvorson, Steamboat Springs, for respondent Billy Joe West.
The petitioner brought this original proceeding pursuant to C.A.R. 21, seeking relief in the nature of mandamus. We issued a rule to show cause, and now make the rule absolute.
Shortly after midnight on November 24, 1974, the petitioner Jones and his wife were sitting in their truck, parked on a street in Oak Creek, Colorado, when the respondent West approached, addressed abusive language to the petitioner's wife, and began striking her. A fight ensued. The petitioner grabbed a pistol from his wife's hands, left the vehicle, and shot at West four times, striking him twice. West then fled on foot.
After surrendering to the authorities, the petitioner Jones was charged with first-degree assault 1 and subsequently entered a plea of Nolo contendere to the less serious charge of felony menacing. 2 He was sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined $3,000, but the sentence and $2,000 of the fine were suspended and he was placed on probation for three years.
This original proceeding arises out of a tort action subsequently brought by West against Jones for the injuries he incurred in the shooting. Plaintiff West's complaint in the tort action, based on assault and battery, sought punitive as well as compensatory damages and requested body execution against Jones. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff West and found that he was entitled to body execution.
The petitioner Jones contends that his Nolo contendere plea to the charge of felony menacing constituted a "conviction" in a criminal proceeding for the "same wrong" upon which the civil action is based. Thus, the petitioner Jones argues, body execution against him is barred by the exception contained in Colorado's body execution statute 3 which precludes that remedy's being used for the "same wrong" for which the defendant has been "convicted" in a criminal prosecution. We agree.
The statute authorizing body execution states:
(Emphasis added.) Section 13-59-103, C.R.S.1973.
This statute is penal in nature since it contemplates imprisonment for civil liability. Fanstiel v. Wright, 122 Colo. 451, 222 P.2d 1001 (1950). The purpose of the rule forbidding body execution under certain circumstances is to assure that one convicted and punished in a criminal proceeding is not required to suffer incarceration for the same act under the law governing civil actions. Boyer v. Elkins, 154 Colo. 294, 390 P.2d 460 (1964).
Generally a plea of Nolo contendere is equivalent to a guilty...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Allen v. Martin, 06CA1768.
...court adopted here. Jiron cited People ex rel. Attorney General v. Edison, 100 Colo. 574, 69 P.2d 246 (1937), and Jones v. District Court, 196 Colo. 261, 584 P.2d 81 (1978), both of which distinguish guilty pleas from nolo contendere pleas. 392 F.3d at 416. The Edison court said: "The diffe......
-
Kinsey v. Preeson
...its nature, as it contemplates imprisonment for debt." Coryell v. Lawson, 25 Colo.App. at 435, 139 P. at 27. Accord Jones v. District Court, 196 Colo. 261, 584 P.2d 81 (1978). "The purpose of the body execution is to coerce the payment of the judgment by keeping the defendant in confinement......
-
Jiron v. City of Lakewood
...binding defendant in other proceedings." Id. at 248. The Supreme Court of Colorado made a similar distinction in Jones v. District Court, 196 Colo. 261, 584 P.2d 81, 83 (1978). In Jones, the court said that "[g]enerally a plea of Nolo contendere is equivalent to a guilty plea only for the p......
-
People v. Madsen
...like a plea of guilty, ends the prosecution and exposes the defendant to the imposition of criminal penalties, Jones v. District Court, 196 Colo. 261, 264, 584 P.2d 81, 83 (1978), the Wixson rule applies equally to pleas of nolo contendere. However, where the court does not accept the tende......