People v. Parsons, 79SA26
| Decision Date | 14 April 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79SA26,79SA26 |
| Citation | 610 P.2d 93,199 Colo. 421 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Anneliese B. PARSONS, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
J. D. McFarlane, Atty. Gen., Richard F. Hennessey, Deputy Atty. Gen., Mary J. Mullarkey, Sol. Gen., William Morris, Asst. Atty. Gen., App. Section, Denver, for plaintiff-appellee.
J. Gregory Walta, Public Defender, Denver, Barney Iuppa, Special Deputy State Public Defender, Colorado Springs, for defendant-appellant.
The appellant was convicted by a jury of second-degree assault. Section 18-3-203(1)(c), C.R.S.1973 ). On appeal, under the facts of this case, we need only consider the failure of the trial court to give the appellant's theory of the case instruction which asserted that the appellant resisted arrest. There was sufficient evidence in the record to support the appellant's theory of the case instruction and the failure to give the instruction requires that the conviction be reversed and set aside. Since the appellant has already served her sentence in the Colorado Women's Correction Reformatory, retrial is not necessary.
Anneliese Bess Parsons was with a number of other young people in Colorado Springs on July 10, 1976 at a beer party on Kiowa Street. A report had been made to the police that firecrackers or gun shots had been fired at the beer party. The police investigated the call, and when they arrived they saw an individual who was the appellant's boyfriend throw a shotgun into the trunk of a car and lock the trunk. When the police attempted to question him, he joined the other young people at the beer party. After obtaining reinforcements, the police used reasonable force to make an arrest and were confronted by the appellant who attempted to assist her boyfriend. Blows were struck and the hostilities culminated when the police knocked the appellant to the ground. The appellant was singled out from a large number of participants in the melee for a charge of felony second-degree assault, section 18-3-203(1)(c), C.R.S.1973. No other person was charged with a felony.
An instruction on the offense of resisting arrest (section 18-8-103(1)(a), C.R.S.1973 )) was properly tendered as the defendant's theory of the case. People v. Rivera, 186 Colo. 24, 525 P.2d 431 (1974). In refusing the instruction, the court declined to give the...
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People v. Nunez, 91SC576
...theory of the case instruction or to incorporate the substance of such in an instruction drafted by the court. People v. Parsons, 199 Colo. 421, 422, 610 P.2d 93, 94 (1980); Nora v. People, 176 Colo. 454, 456, 491 P.2d 62, 64 (1971); Zarate v. People, 163 Colo. 205, 211, 429 P.2d 309, 312-1......
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People v. Alexander
...on a principle of law if there is some evidence to support it. E.g., People v. McKnight, 626 P.2d 678 (Colo.1981); People v. Parsons, 199 Colo. 421, 610 P.2d 93 (1980). The trial court, however, should not instruct on abstract principles of law unrelated to the issues in controversy, e.g., ......
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People v. Parsons, 80SA529
...Public Defender, Denver, for defendant-appellee. PER CURIAM. Following our reversal of this defendant's conviction in People v. Parsons, 199 Colo. 421, 610 P.2d 93 (1980), the district attorney's office sought to reprosecute the defendant. The trial court dismissed the case and its judgment......
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ARTICLE 3
...Perea v. District Court, 199 Colo. 27, 604 P.2d 25 (1979); People v. Martinez, 43 Colo. App. 419, 608 P.2d 359 (1979); People v. Parsons, 199 Colo. 421, 610 P.2d 93 (1980); People v. Johnson, 644 P.2d 34 (Colo. App. 1980); People v. Tijerina, 632 P.2d 570 (Colo. 1981); Richardson v. Distric......
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ARTICLE 3 OFFENSES AGAINST THE PERSON
...Perea v. District Court, 199 Colo. 27, 604 P.2d 25 (1979); People v. Martinez, 43 Colo. App. 419, 608 P.2d 359 (1979); People v. Parsons, 199 Colo. 421, 610 P.2d 93 (1980); People v. Johnson, 644 P.2d 34 (Colo. App. 1980); People v. Tijerina, 632 P.2d 570 (Colo. 1981); Richardson v. Distric......