People v. Casias
| Decision Date | 15 March 2012 |
| Docket Number | Court of Appeals No. 09CA1745 |
| Citation | 12 COA 39 |
| Court | Colorado Court of Appeals |
| Parties | The People of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jeff Anthony Casias, Defendant-Appellant. |
Pueblo County District Court No. 06CR1755
JUDGMENTS REVERSED AND CASE
REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS
Opinion by JUDGE DAILEY
¶1 Defendant, Jeff Anthony Casias, appeals the judgments of conviction entered on jury verdicts finding him guilty of first degree murder (causing the death of a child under the age of twelve by one in a position of trust) and knowing or reckless child abuse resulting in death. We reverse and remand for a new trial.
¶2 Defendant's girlfriend left defendant at home with their seven-week-old baby, J.C. When she left, defendant was holding an awake, responsive, and content J.C. Shortly afterwards, however, defendant telephoned to tell her that J.C. had choked and stopped breathing. Defendant hung up but called back moments later to tell her that he was taking J.C. to the hospital.
¶3 Upon arrival at the hospital, J.C. was unresponsive and limp and did not open her eyes or move any of her extremities. Defendant told the emergency room physician that he had been feeding her when she began choking and that, in an effort to help her, he put cold water on her and shook her "a little bit but not excessively."
¶4 J.C. died the next morning.
¶5 At trial, the People presented expert witnesses who opined that J.C. died as the result of nonaccidental traumatic brain injury caused by being violently shaken or "slamm[ed]" against a hard surface. The experts based their opinions on fractures to J.C.'s skull and rib, hemorrhages in both her retinas, severe swelling of her brain, and bruising on her forehead.1 According to some experts, J.C.'s injuries had been recently inflicted, that is, within a day or two of her death. Additionally, some stated that J.C.'s injuries would have immediately affected her heart rate and breathing, making her lethargic and unable to focus.
¶6 Defendant asserted that J.C.'s injuries were the result of a fall off the bed onto a hardwood floor approximately a week before she died. Consistent with this theory, defendant's girlfriend testified that seven to ten days before she died, J.C. rolled off the bed, struck her head on the wooden floor, and thereafter was more lethargic, had trouble eating, was congested, and "cried a lot."
¶7 Also consistent with this theory, defendant's expert witness testified that (1) skull fractures in children J.C.'s age could result from short falls onto a hard surface; (2) she did not see injuries to the upper neck, spinal cord, and brain stem that she would expect if J.C. had been injured as a result of being shaken; and (3) choking is reported in many cases where a child has the type of brain damage J.C. suffered. Defendant's expert also opined, contrary to the People's evidence, that J.C.'s rib injury could have resulted from either a deformity or CPR performed on her, and that retinal hemorrhages are found in accidental deaths and are not characteristic of significant force to the head.
¶8 For the purposes of showing defendant's knowledge or absence of mistake, the prosecution was permitted to introduce evidence of two instances in which defendant allegedly abused his three-year-old daughter, A.C.
¶9 The jury convicted defendant as charged, and the trial court sentenced him to concurrent terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on the first degree murder count and twenty-four years imprisonment on the child abuse count.
¶10 Defendant contends that the trial court erroneously admitted evidence that he had, on two prior occasions, mistreated his other daughter, A.C. We agree for two reasons. First, the prosecution offered evidence of defendant's alleged past acts only to prove his mental state, but those acts did not result in serious injury or death to A.C. Second, those acts bear no resemblance to the acts he was alleged to have committed against J.C.
¶11 The prosecution sought to introduce evidence of numerous, other bad acts committed by defendant involving alleged abuse of A.C. and domestic violence against his girlfriend. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, and considering the parties' written submissions, the court denied the prosecution's request with respect to all but two of the alleged acts.
¶12 Both of the alleged acts for which the prosecution was permitted to introduce evidence concerned defendant's treatment of A.C.: approximately four to five months before J.C.'s death, defendant had slapped A.C. hard enough to leave a handprint (and later a bruise) on her face, and, on another occasion, had taken herby the arm, shaken her "a little bit," placed her roughly in a car, and "smacked" her on the arm. On both occasions, the acts against A.C. occurred shortly after an argument between defendant and another adult (in the first instance, with his girlfriend's sister, and in the second instance, with the girlfriend).
¶13 In a written order, the trial court found that evidence concerning the two acts was admissible because it was relevant, apart from any inference of bad character, to show that defendant had acted knowingly and recklessly -- rather than mistakenly -- toward the victim in this case. During trial, the court instructed the jury that the evidence could "be used for the purpose of showing knowledge or absence of mistake and . . . for no other purpose."
¶14 The admission of evidence of other bad acts may "unfairly expose[] a defendant to the risk of being found guilty based on bad character rather than on evidence relating to the charged offense." People v. Lopez, 129 P.3d 1061, 1064 (Colo. App. 2005). Thus, evidence of other bad acts is inadmissible if its relevance depends only on an inference that the person has a bad character and actedin conformity therewith. CRE 404(b); People v. Cooper, 104 P.3d 307, 309 (Colo. App. 2004).
¶15 Under CRE 401, 403, and 404(b), however, a trial court may admit evidence of a defendant's other bad acts if (1) the evidence is offered for a proper purpose; (2) the evidence is logically relevant to a material issue in the case; (3) its relevance is independent of the intermediate inference that the defendant has a bad character;2 and (4) its probative value is not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. People v. Rath, 44 P.3d 1033, 1038 (Colo. 2002).
¶16 Trial courts have considerable discretion to decide questions concerning the admissibility of evidence, id., and an abuse ofdiscretion will only be found upon a showing that the court misconstrued or misapplied the law or otherwise reached a manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair result. See generally People v. Garcia, 169 P.3d 223, 226 (Colo. App. 2007).
¶17 Here, the court found that the conditions for admitting evidence of the two instances of alleged abuse against A.C. were satisfied. As pertinent to our inquiry, the court found that the evidence was logically relevant to a material issue in the case, independent of any inference of bad character, because:
¶18 As we see it, the issue on appeal is whether the acts against A.C. were logically relevant, independent of any inference of badcharacter, to prove the culpable mental state for each of the crimes allegedly committed against J.C., that is, first degree murder and child abuse resulting in death.
¶19 As pertinent here, section 18-3-102(1)(f), C.R.S. 2011, provides that "[a] person commits the crime of murder in the first degree if . . . [t]he person knowingly causes the death of a child who has not yet attained twelve years of age and the person committing the offense is in a position of trust with respect to the victim." A person acts knowingly "when he [or she] is aware that his [or her] conduct is practically certain to cause the result." § 18-1-501(6), C.R.S. 2011.
¶20 Thus, with respect to the first degree murder charge here, the prosecution had to prove that defendant engaged in conduct which he was aware was practically certain to cause J.C.'s death. Cf. Mata-Medina v. People, 71 P.3d 973, 978 (Colo. 2003) ().
¶21 A person who commits child abuse under section 18-6-401(1)(a), C.R.S. 2011, is subject to punishment for a class 2 felony"when [he or she] act[ed] knowingly or recklessly and the child abuse results in death to the child." § 18-6-401(7)(a)(I), C.R.S. 2011.3 As pertinent here, a person acts knowingly with respect to conduct or a circumstance described in a statute defining an offense "when he [or she] is aware that his [or her] conduct is of such nature or that such circumstance exists." § 18-1-501(6). A person acts recklessly "when he [or she] consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that a result will occur." § 18-1-501(8), C.R.S. 2011. A person acts with a conscious disregard of the risk created by his or her...
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