People v. Alexander

• Decision Date: 11 June 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89SA130,89SA130
• Citation: People v. Alexander, 797 P.2d 1250 (Colo. 1990)
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James ALEXANDER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 1250

797 P.2d 1250

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James ALEXANDER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 89SA130.

Supreme Court of Colorado En Banc.

June 11, 1990.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing

July 9, 1990.

Duane Woodard, Atty. Gen., Charles B. Howe, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Richard H. Forman, Sol. Gen., Robert J. Petrusak, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for plaintiff-appellee.

Jeffrey K. Holmes, Denver, for defendant-appellant.

Justice VOLLACK delivered the Opinion of the Court.

In this appeal Defendant James Alexander attacks the constitutionality of his sentence under the Habitual Criminal Act on equal protection grounds. The defendant also argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress, that his two prior convictions underlying the habitual criminal charge were unconstitutionally obtained, and that the district court erred in refusing to give his proffered special instruction on the issue of identification. We affirm.

I.

In 1985 the defendant was convicted of second degree kidnapping ¹ and first degree sexual assault. ² The defendant was also convicted of violating subsection 16-13-101(1) of the Habitual Criminal Act, §§ 16-13-101 to 16-13-103, 8A C.R.S. (1986). The trial court sentenced the defendant to a term of imprisonment of 50 years plus parole. See § 16-13-101(1).

A.

Prior to trial the defendant filed a motion to suppress all physical evidence and statements obtained from him on the ground that they were the product of an unlawful arrest. The hearing on the motion to suppress established that over a period of three days police officers in Centreville, Illinois, received phone calls from an anonymous woman who said that James Alexander was wanted by the police and was staying on Mitchell Street in Centreville. The informant provided the officers with James Alexander's date of birth. Captain Sylvester McWherter of the Centreville Police Department checked with the Denver Police Department and verified that a warrant had been issued in Colorado for the arrest of James Alexander. ³ The notice received by the Centreville police of the arrest warrant outstanding in Colorado listed two dates of birth for James Alexander: October 2, 1956, and October 2, 1955.

On the evening of October 18, 1984, Captain McWherter saw the defendant driving a car on a Centreville street. Captain McWherter and three other officers stopped the defendant's car and ordered him out of the car. Before he got out of the car the defendant stated that he would not be taken alive. The officers again ordered the defendant out of the car. The defendant then got out of the car, and Captain McWherter handcuffed him and read him his Miranda ⁴ rights. In response to Captain McWherter's Miranda advisement the defendant said, "Well, what have I did? I only been here two months from Denver." At the station Captain McWherter again advised the defendant of his Miranda rights. The defendant refused to sign a Miranda advisement form.

The defendant argued at the suppression hearing that the police lacked probable cause to arrest him. The district court denied the motion to suppress.

B.

The defendant's case was tried to a jury. The defendant tendered a jury instruction which cautioned jurors to carefully evaluate the identification testimony of the trial witnesses. The instruction reminded the jury that the prosecution has the burden of proving identity beyond a reasonable doubt, and stated that the value of eyewitness identification testimony depends on "the opportunity the witness has to observe the offender at the time of the offense and to make a reliable identification later." The instruction also cautioned the jurors to consider the capacity and opportunity of each identification witness to reliably observe the offender, the reliability of subsequent identifications, any subsequent failures by witnesses to identify the defendant, and the credibility and veracity of each identification witness. The district court declined to give the defendant's proffered instruction to the jury.

II.

The defendant contends that the Centreville police did not possess probable cause to arrest him, and that therefore the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress. We disagree.

"Probable cause to arrest exists when the objective facts and circumstances available to a reasonably cautious officer warrant the belief that an offense has been or is being committed by the person arrested." People v. Freeman, 668 P.2d 1371, 1377 (Colo.1983). " 'An officer who does not personally possess sufficient information to constitute probable cause may nevertheless make a valid arrest if he acts upon the direction, or as a result of a communication from, a fellow officer, and the police, as a whole, possess sufficient information to constitute probable cause.' " People v. Fields, 785 P.2d 611, 613 (Colo.1990) (quoting Freeman, 668 P.2d at 1377) (brackets omitted). See also Whiteley v. Warden, 401 U.S. 560, 91 S.Ct. 1031, 28 L.Ed.2d 306 (1971).

Captain McWherter acted upon the direction of, and as a result of a communication from, a fellow officer. Captain McWherter arrested the defendant on the basis of a reliable report that a warrant for the defendant's arrest was outstanding in Colorado. The arrest was not invalidated by the fact that the printed notice received by the Centreville police listed two dates of birth for the defendant. The notice sufficiently identified the defendant, and Captain McWherter testified that he confirmed the existence of the warrant with the Denver police. The defendant does not dispute the second requirement of the fellow officer rule, that the police as a whole possessed sufficient information to constitute probable cause. Id.; People v. Baca, 198 Colo. 399, 402, 600 P.2d 770, 771-72 (1979). ⁵

III.

The defendant asserts that his sentence under the Habitual Criminal Act violates equal protection of the laws. We disagree.

The defendant's argument is based on the operation of the Habitual Criminal Act. Section 16-13-101 provides for enhanced punishment for two classes of criminal defendants. Subsection 16-13-101(1) provides that convicted felons who have been convicted of two felonies within 10 years of the commission of their third felony "shall be punished by confinement in a correctional facility for a term of not less than twenty-five nor more than fifty years." Subsection 16-13-101(2) provides that a convicted felon who has previously been convicted of three felonies "shall be punished by imprisonment in a correctional facility for the term of his or her natural life." Under Colorado's parole statutes a criminal defendant sentenced for crimes committed on or after July 1, 1979, but before July 1, 1985, to 50 years in prison will serve approximately 23 years of his or her sentence before becoming entitled to parole. ⁶ See §§ 17-22.5-301 and 17-22.5-302, 8A C.R.S. (1986 & 1989 Supp.); Thiret v. Kautzky, 792 P.2d 801 (Colo.1990). In contrast, a defendant sentenced to life imprisonment under subsection 16-13-101(2) becomes eligible for parole after he or she has served twenty years. § 17-22.5-104(2)(b), 8A C.R.S. (1986). The defendant argues that this statutory sentencing scheme violates equal protection because persons sentenced to life in prison under subsection 16-13-101(2) become eligible for parole after serving twenty years, whereas the defendant will be eligible for parole after serving approximately 25 years of his sentence. See §§ 17-22.5-301 and 17-22.5-302. ⁷ The defendant's equal protection claim rests on the fact that inmates sentenced to life imprisonment under subsection 16-13-101(2) may receive parole after serving less time than the defendant will have served before he becomes eligible for parole under subsection 16-13-101(1). ⁸

"Equal protection of the laws is guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution and by the due process clause in article II, section 25, of the Colorado Constitution." People v. Rickstrew, 775 P.2d 570, 574 (Colo.1989). "Equal protection of the laws assures that those who are similarly situated will be afforded similar treatment." People v. Jefferson, 748 P.2d 1223, 1225 (Colo.1988); People v. Mozee, 723 P.2d 117, 126 (Colo.1986). In the absence of a statutory infringement on a fundamental right or the creation of a suspect classification, equal protection of the laws is satisfied if the statutory classification has a reasonable basis in fact and bears a reasonable relationship to a legitimate government interest. Firelock Inc. v. District Court, 776 P.2d 1090, 1098 (Colo.1989); Persichini v. Brad Ragan, Inc., 735 P.2d 168, 174 (Colo.1987); Lee v. Colorado Dep't of Health, 718 P.2d 221, 227 (Colo.1986). The party challenging the statutory classification bears the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the classification is unreasonable, or, if reasonable, is unrelated to any legitimate governmental objective. Firelock, 776 P.2d at 1097; Persichini, 735 P.2d at 174-75; Lee, 718 P.2d at 227; High Gear and Toke Shop v. Beacom, 689 P.2d 624, 630 (Colo.1984).

The petitioner's equal protection claim merits a rational basis standard of review. "There is no constitutional or inherent right of a convicted person to be conditionally released before the expiration of a valid sentence." Greenholtz v. Inmates of Neb. Penal and Correctional Complex, 442 U.S. 1, 7, 99 S.Ct. 2100, 2104, 60 L.Ed.2d 668 (1979); Andretti v. Johnson, 779 P.2d 382, 384 (Colo.1989). Thus the classification which the defendant challenges does not invade a fundamental right, or create a suspect or quasi-suspect class. Id.; see also United States v. Solomon, 848 F.2d 156, 157 (11th Cir.1988) (statutes prescribing different minimum sentences for possession of drugs of different purity did not discriminate on the basis of a suspect classification or the exercise of a fundamental right).

The defendant argues that his sentence violates...