2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 18 - CRIMINAL CODE (§§ 18-1-101 — 18-26-102) › Article 1 - PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO OFFENSES GENERALLY (§§ 18-1-101 — 18-1-1109) › Part 4 - RIGHTS OF DEFENDANT (§§ 18-1-401 — 18-1-417) › Section 18-1-408 - Prosecution of multiple counts for same act

(1)
When any conduct of a defendant establishes the commission of more than one offense, the defendant may be prosecuted for each such offense. He may not be convicted of more than one offense if:
(a)
One offense is included in the other, as defined in subsection (5) of this section; or
(b)
One offense consists only of an attempt to commit the other; or
(c)
Inconsistent findings of fact are required to establish the commission of the offenses; or
(d)
The offenses differ only in that one is defined to prohibit a designated kind of conduct generally and the other to prohibit a specific instance of such conduct; or
(e)
The offense is defined as a continuing course of conduct and the defendant's course of conduct was uninterrupted, unless the law provides that specific periods or instances of such conduct constitute separate offenses.
(2)
If the several offenses are actually known to the district attorney at the time of commencing the prosecution and were committed within the district attorney's judicial district, all such offenses upon which the district attorney elects to proceed must be prosecuted by separate counts in a single prosecution if they are based on the same act or series of acts arising from the same criminal episode. Any offense not thus joined by separate count cannot thereafter be the basis of a subsequent prosecution; except that, if at the time jeopardy attaches with respect to the first prosecution against the defendant the defendant or counsel for the defendant actually knows of additional pending prosecutions that this subsection (2) requires the district attorney to charge and the defendant or counsel for the defendant fails to object to the prosecution's failure to join the charges, the defendant waives any claim pursuant to this subsection (2) that a subsequent prosecution is prohibited.
(3)
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.
(4)
When a defendant is charged with two or more offenses based on the same act or series of acts arising from the same criminal episode, the court, on application of either the defendant or the district attorney, may order any such charge to be tried separately, if it is satisfied that justice so requires.
(5)
A defendant may be convicted of an offense included in an offense charged in the indictment or the information. An offense is so included when:
(a)
It is established by proof of the same or less than all the facts required to establish the commission of the offense charged; or
(b)
It consists of an attempt or solicitation to commit the offense charged or to commit an offense otherwise included therein; or
(c)
It differs from the offense charged only in the respect that a less serious injury or risk of injury to the same person, property, or public interest or a lesser kind of culpability suffices to establish its commission.
(6)
The court shall not be obligated to charge the jury with respect to an included offense unless there is a rational basis for a verdict acquitting the defendant of the offense charged and convicting him of the included offense.
(7)
If the same conduct is defined as criminal in different enactments or in different sections of this code, the offender may be prosecuted under any one or all of the sections or enactments subject to the limitations provided by this section. It is immaterial to the prosecution that one of the enactments or sections characterizes the crime as of lesser degree than another, or provides a lesser penalty than another, or was enacted by the general assembly at a later date than another unless the later section or enactment specifically repeals the earlier.
(8)
Without the consent of the prosecution, no jury shall be instructed to return a guilty verdict on a lesser offense if any juror remains convinced by the facts and law that the defendant is guilty of a greater offense submitted for the jury's consideration, the retrial of which would be barred by conviction of the lesser offense.
L. 71: R&RE, p. 400, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 40-1-508. L. 85: (3) amended, p. 661, § 1, effective July 1. L. 94: (2) amended, p. 1049, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2000: (8) added, p. 452, § 6, effective April 24.
For the sentencing of a defendant convicted of multiple crimes of violence arising out of the same incident, see § 18-1.3-406(1)(a).