I am looking for a case I found a few weeks ago on google, as well as
additional cases to support the premise. It is a
case that happened in Colorado. An individual, I think a woman,
pleaded guilty to a felony. Later - post conviction - she came back
and petitioned to court to reduce the felony to a misdemeanor but the
case was denied. The reason for the denial was that in the plea
agreement she had agreed to a stipulation which would not allow for
this to happen, i.e., the reduction in class. I am looking for that
case - IN COLORADO - or a similar case ? IN COLORDO which addresses
the same issue, i.e., a case where a felony was reduced, post
conviction and sentencing, to a misdemeanor.
helpful Resources:
http://www.cobar.org
http://www.courts.state.co.us
http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/olls/HTML/colorado_revised_statutes.htm
This must be Colorado case law ? other jurisdictions/states do not
apply ? however the Winona Rider case is an example of such an event ?
where post conviction her felony was reduced to a misdemeanor. |
Clarification of Question by
jaystallard-ga
on
28 Jun 2004 23:33 PDT
If case law exists to support the post conviction reduction of a
felony to a misdemeanor that is in essence what we are looking for -
not the converse ? but any case law related to this subject is
helpful.
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Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
29 Jun 2004 09:22 PDT
Hello, jaystallard!
Do you remember if you found this case in a particular database, like
the ones you cited? Or, were you just "googling" around in a regular
search? Do you remember any other particulars of the case?
Circumstances of the felony, approximate date, etc?
umiat
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Clarification of Question by
jaystallard-ga
on
29 Jun 2004 14:46 PDT
I found the case googling around a few weeks ago. All I remember was
that it was a woman - I think outside of denver but I am not sure. It
may have been a link off of findlaw - but google was the tool I used
to find it. If you have access to lexus nexus or west law they may be
helpful as well. Also, it may have been an appeal - the details are a
wee bit foggy. hope that helps.
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Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
29 Jun 2004 21:50 PDT
Jay,
Were you searching for a particular topic when you ran across this
specific Colorado case? In other words, were you searching for felony
reductions, or did it come up as a byproduct of another search?
Meanwhile, I am still working on it.
umiat
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
30 Jun 2004 09:55 PDT
Hello again, Jay!
After many hours of research on LexisOne, FindLaw, and Google, as
well as two phone calls to attorneys in Colorado, I have come up with
no Colorado cases which allow reduction of a felony to a misdemeanor.
I have also not found the particular case to which you refer which
alludes to any possibility of felony reduction if the stipulation in
the plea agreement had been different.
I spoke at length with a criminal defense attorney from the Colorado
Criminal Defense Bar about the circumstances surrounding your
question. He has never heard of any provision in Colorado case law
that allows for reduction of a felony to a misdemeanor after
conviction. While, under rare circumstances, there are procedures
which allow for a motion to vacate judgement and sentence if certain
conditions are met, this is a provision of a special agreement before
a case ever goes to trial.
He stressed that while a celebrity like Winona Ryder might be able to
pull some strings in California, it would be "way far out" to imagine
a procedural step that would allow an individual to convince a judge
to change a felony conviction to a misdemeanor in Colorado!
Therefore, after my research and phone calls, I guess I would have to
say the answer to your question - "If case law exists to support the
post conviction reduction of a felony to a misdemeanor in Colorado" -
is "No."
Does that leave us anywhere in terms of further research on this question?
umiat
|
Clarification of Question by
jaystallard-ga
on
01 Jul 2004 04:16 PDT
I can appreciate your position - however, I found the case listed
below about a month ago - just can't find it now. Re-finding that
case is the purpose of the question.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
markj-ga
on
01 Jul 2004 09:55 PDT
jaystallard --
I have found a Colorado case that contains most, but not quite all, of
the elements of the one you recall.
All the facts are not restated in detail in the opinion, so the
location of the offense is unclear, but the defendant's lawyer is from
Denver.
The defendant (a man),pled guilty to a felony -- homicide by vehicle
-- and signed a document indicating that he understood that the
offense was a felony and that the minimum sentence that could be
imposed would be "X" (several) years under Colorado law.
In connection with the sentencing hearing, the defendant filed a
motion stating that the maximum sentence (based on his reading of the
relevant statutes) was only one year in the local jail (a misdemeanor,
by definition).
The judge rejected this motion based on his interpretation of the
relevant statutes and sentenced him to the statutory sentence for the
felony. The appellate court and ultimately the Colorado Supreme Court
upheld the trial judge. Their basis was that the legislature could
not have intended to reclassify reckless OR DUI homicide by vehicle as
a misdemeanor, which would have been the effect of granting the
defendant's motion.
Thus, while the initial motion of the defendant for a one-year
(misdemeanor) maximum sentence was before sentencing, the appeal was
of course after the sentencing hearing.
As noted above, the issue in the case was the correct interpretation
of apparently conflicting statutes related to a particular criminal
offense, which may or may not ring a bell with you.
Does this case sound familiar? And, if not, is it a case whose
holding serves your purposes?
markj-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
jaystallard-ga
on
01 Jul 2004 17:41 PDT
I don't think that was the case. One operative word you might use in
your search is 'she' I am almost certain it was a woman. I know not
having the details of the infraction make this very hard.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
02 Jul 2004 07:40 PDT
jay,
I have continued to search on an off, and no matter what search
parameters I plug in to Lexis or Findlaw or Google, nothing pops up. I
have found felony to misdemeanor reductions for a few other states,
but not Colorado. I have been through the Colorado courts as well as
the 10th Circuit cases. I have found "a lot" of inforamation in
Colorado pertaining to "sentence" reduction, but nothing pertaining
specifically to reclassification of a felony to a misdemeanor, even if
the petition was denied.
Unfortunately, researchers are not paid for their time unless they
come up with an answer so the five or six hours I have spent are
merely unpaid time. I did, however, continue to look last night and
still found nothing about the particular case to which you refer.
The difficult part of this is, a researcher could put in many more
hours trying to find your case, think they found it, only to come up
with a "that is not the case I saw" scenario. Also, you have asked for
"other cases" to support the same premise. After my discussion with
the lawyer at the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, I am quite sure that
no cases exist to support the re-classification of a felony to a
misdemeanor in Colorado.
Perhaps if you could explain why this particular case is so
important, (i.e - perhaps to show a possible legal loophole) there may
be some other way to tackle it. Let us know.
umiat
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
02 Jul 2004 10:13 PDT
Does this ring a bell? I doubt this is it, but it is the closest I
have found pertaining to Colorado:
"Where the predicate crime was a felony in Oregon, it was irrelevant
that it was a misdemeanor in Colorado." People v. Sellers, 762 P.2d
749 (Colo.App. 1988).
|
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
03 Jul 2004 08:45 PDT
Hello Jay,
I've been looking into your question, and I would like to ask for a
bit of clarification about what you need.
1. Have you looked on your own computer for the case you found a few
weeks ago? Either the link to the file, or the file itself -- or
both! -- may still be stored on your computer in your browser's
History file, or in your temporary internet files. Let me know if
you've searched for these, or if you need help in searching for them
on your own computer.
2. The specific case you're looking for concerns a DENIAL of a
post-conviction request to reduce a charge. You also say you're
looking for similar cases. My understanding is that you want ANY
petition or motion to the court (whether denied or accepted) that:
--is in Colorado (nowhere else)
--is post-conviction
--and regards a request to reduce a charge from felony to misdemeanor
Is this correct?
3. At one point you say "It may have been an appeal" rather than a
petition or motion. Can you clarify what you're after. Is ANY
document pertaining to Colorado precedent on this issue relevant to
your question?
Any further information you can provide will help to focus my research
on your query.
Thanks.
pafalafa-ga
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Clarification of Question by
jaystallard-ga
on
03 Jul 2004 11:16 PDT
1. I looked through all of my internet history - it only goes back 3
weeks and I could not find the information
2. I am looking for that case because it seems to acknowledge that it
is possible to go back and have a conviction reduced in severity,
i.e., felony to misdemeanor, as it was not denied on those grounds but
on the grounds that she had agreed not to come back and have it
reduced in the plea agreement.
3. We need the information in Colorado, as Colorado case law that
would only be applicable. Essentially we are looking for existing
case law that supports the premise that, after a conviction and
completion of a sentence it is possible to reopen the case and have
the original charge, agreed to in a plea agreement, reduced from a
felony to a misdemeanor.
4. I am looking for any documentation that supports the premise
outlined above. Any case law (in Colorado) would be good. In the
ideal world it would be exemplified by a case where someone
successfully had a felony reduced to a misdemeanor after conviction
and completion of sentence. The most recent example of this would be
what happened with Winona Ryder in California - however California
case law does not apply.
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
03 Jul 2004 13:45 PDT
Thank you. I will continue to research this, but would appreciate
knowing one more thing.
Are you interested ONLY in a reduction of the charge (from felony to
misdemeanor) as a means for seeking relief, or would other information
regarding sentence reduction be of interest to you?
Thanks.
pafalafa-ga
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Clarification of Question by
jaystallard-ga
on
03 Jul 2004 14:31 PDT
sentance reduction is not an issue - it is the criminal record we are
trying to address.
Thank you
|
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
05 Jul 2004 09:56 PDT
Hello again, Jay.
I've been all over the place looking for your case -- or related info
-- but to no avail. I did find a ton of information regarding the
process for filing a postconviction motion in Colorado, along with
many of the outcomes and precedents that exist, but none specific to
your question (the closest I got was a motion that one conviction
under a "three strikes" sentence should have been considered a
misdemeanor, not a felony, and thus shouldn't count towards the three
strikes).
Anyway, I wanted to encourage you to continue to explore your own computer.
You wrote:
>>I looked through all of my internet history - it only goes back 3
weeks and I could not find the information<<
The History files are not the only source of...well...history files.
If you're in a Windows system, there are also "Temporary Internet
Files" stored in one or more folders that can hang out for years. If
you're lucky, these files can still include the full image of the
document you found during your original search.
Try looking through these files. It can be done manually, or using
the computer's "Search/Find" tool (make sure to select "search hidden
files" as an option).
If you need assistance with this, let me know -- tell me what kind of
operating system and browser you use -- and I'll see if I can walk you
through it.
pafalafa-ga
|
