People v. Muckle, 03SC775.
| Decision Date | 10 January 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 03SC775.,03SC775. |
| Citation | 107 P.3d 380 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Petitioner, v. Jermaine L. MUCKLE, Respondent. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
John W. Suthers, Acting Attorney General, Laurie A. Booras, First Assistant Attorney General, Denver, for Petitioner.
The Law Firm of Douglas S. Joffe, Douglas S. Joffe, Denver, for Respondent.
At issue here is the trial court's discretion under section 18-1-408(3), C.R.S. (2004), to impose consecutive sentences on a defendant who is found guilty of multiple convictions involving a single victim when the convictions may be based on identical evidence. The People challenge the court of appeals' decision below vacating the trial court's consecutive sentencing of the defendant, Jermaine Muckle, and remanding the case to the trial court for the imposition of concurrent sentences. People v. Muckle, No. 95CR1028, slip op. at 1, 2003 WL 1848579 (Colo.App.2003) ().
Traditionally, the trial court has broad discretion at sentencing. Although section 18-1-408(3) imposes some restrictions on the trial court's discretion, it does so only when multiple convictions involving a single victim are returned and it is clear that they were based on identical evidence. Because the evidence in this case supports the trial court's finding that the two convictions returned against Muckle corresponded to two separate acts, we affirm the trial court's exercise of its sentencing discretion and reverse the court of appeals.
The facts surrounding the shooting in this case were contested at trial. Three eyewitnesses testified that Muckle arrived at an apartment to sell drugs. Two men, Derrick Davis and Theopolis Hendrix, who are the victims in this case, were in the apartment when Muckle arrived. Two women were present when Muckle arrived and throughout most of the evening. Over the next several hours, Muckle stayed in the apartment while Davis and Hendrix went on an errand and later returned to the apartment. Soon after their return, Muckle came to suspect them of stealing his car stereo speakers. At that point, Muckle reportedly became angry, drew a gun and shot a warning shot at Hendrix, at which point both women fled the apartment. According to Hendrix, Muckle continued shooting at Hendrix and Davis, killing Davis and wounding Hendrix.
Muckle's testimony differed significantly from the eyewitness testimony given by the two women and Hendrix that Muckle pulled out a gun and began shooting. In contrast, Muckle testified that although he suspected Hendrix and Davis of stealing his car stereo speakers, he was not angry about the suspected theft. Instead, Muckle testified that Davis pointed a gun at Muckle in an attempt to rob him, that both Davis and Hendrix physically assaulted him, that Muckle feared for his life, that he struggled for the gun and in the course of the struggle the gun discharged multiple times, and that somehow Muckle gained possession of Davis' gun and began shooting out of self defense. Muckle stated that he was not aiming the gun, but was merely trying to escape from a dangerous situation.
In his first trial, Muckle was convicted of first degree murder of Davis in violation of section 18-3-102(1)(a), 8B C.R.S. (1995), attempted first degree murder of Hendrix in violation of section 18-2-101(4), 8B C.R.S. (1995), and first degree assault of Hendrix in violation of section 18-3-202(1)(a), 8B C.R.S. (1995). Muckle was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for the first degree murder conviction as to Davis, thirty-two years on the attempted first degree murder conviction as to Hendrix, and twenty years for the first degree assault conviction as to Hendrix. However, Muckle's convictions were reversed on appeal, and the case was remanded for a new trial. People v. Muckle, No. 96 CA1369, slip op. at 1 (Colo.App.1998) ().
Although the circumstances of the shooting and the timing of the shots were disputed at trial, it was undisputed that Muckle shot Hendrix twice, once in the abdomen, and once in the arm. Forensic evidence indicated that the two shots were likely fired while Hendrix was in two different positions. There was evidence that the first shot to the abdomen was fired while Hendrix was seated, and the second shot to the arm was fired while Hendrix was moving away from Muckle in an attempt to reach the door.
At the second trial, the People did not specify which of Hendrix's two bullet wounds corresponded to the attempted murder charge and which formed the basis of the assault charge.
The jury acquitted Muckle of the first degree murder charge under section 18-3-102(1)(a), 8B C.R.S. (1995), as to Davis, but convicted him of attempted second degree murder of Hendrix, in violation of section 18-2-101(4), 8B C.R.S. (1995), and first degree assault of Hendrix in violation of section 18-3-202(1)(a), 8B C.R.S. (1995). Muckle took a second appeal, challenging the two convictions he received for shooting Hendrix.
On appeal of the second trial verdict, the court of appeals reversed both the attempted second degree murder and first degree assault convictions as to Hendrix after finding that the trial court had erred in not giving a heat-of-passion instruction. People v. Muckle, No. 00CA0536, slip op. at 1 (Colo.App.2001)(not selected for official publication).
In its remand order, the court of appeals held that the prosecution could elect either to retry the defendant for attempted second degree murder and first degree assault, or to ask the trial court to enter judgments of conviction for heat-of-passion manslaughter section 18-3-104(1)(c), 8B C.R.S. (1995), and first degree assault after provocation under section 18-3-202(2)(a), 8B C.R.S. (1995). Id., at 6.
On remand, the prosecution chose to ask the trial court to enter convictions of heat-of-passion manslaughter and first degree assault after provocation instead of retrying the defendant, and asked the trial court to impose consecutive sentences. Defense counsel raised the argument that concurrent sentencing was appropriate in this case because the jury's verdict was ambiguous.
The trial court then imposed consecutive terms of six years for heat-of-passion manslaughter and eight years for first degree assault. Muckle appealed the sentencing decision, arguing that the trial court should have imposed concurrent sentences because the jury may have found him guilty of the two offenses based upon identical evidence on the theory that the two shots were not sufficiently distinct, but were part of a single impulse.
On Muckle's third appeal, the court of appeals agreed that concurrent sentences were required under section 18-1-408(3) since the jury may have convicted Muckle of two offenses on the basis of identical evidence. The court of appeals reasoned that the prosecution's failure to specify which shot corresponded to which charge created the danger that the jury could have convicted Muckle twice for the same act or series of acts since the jury could have used the shot to the abdomen as the basis of both the attempted murder and the assault convictions. Accordingly, the court of appeals found that the possibility that the jury had returned multiple convictions on the basis of the same evidence prohibited consecutive sentences under section 18-1-408(3).
We granted certiorari to consider whether the court of appeals erred when it concluded that concurrent sentences were required because the jury might have based its guilty verdicts on identical evidence. We find that the court of appeals did err, and we reverse.
We review the trial court's decision under an abuse-of-discretion standard. "It is well-settled law that the sentencing of a defendant is within the sound discretion of the trial court and will not be overturned on appeal absent an abuse of that discretion." People v. Pineda, 40 P.3d 60, 68 (Colo.App.2001). Furthermore, the standard for abuse of discretion is satisfied "if the trial court's ruling is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair." Id. at 63.
Section 18-1-408(3) states in relevant part:
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.
Thus, the defendant has a right under the statute to request that the trial court force ...
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