Opinion ID: 2823804
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Double Jeopardy and Merger

Text: Â¶34Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The double jeopardy clauses of the United States and Colorado Constitutions prohibit multiple punishments for the same offense. U.S. Const. amends. V, XIV; Colo. Const. art. II, Â§ 18; Patton v. People, 35 P.3d 124, 128â29 (Colo. 2001). Although the legislature may define multiple offenses and authorize multiple punishments based on the same behavior, People v. Leske, 957 P.2d 1030, 1035 (Colo. 1998), a defendant may not be punished multiple times for the same conduct if â[o]ne offense is included in theÂ other,â Â§ 18-1-408(1)(a), C.R.S. (2014). One offense is included in another if âproof of the same or less than all the facts required to establish the commission of the [greater]â offense establishes the lesser offense. Abiodun, 111 P.3d at 465 (citing Â§ 18-1-408(5)(a)); see Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304 (1932). Â¶35Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Possession of a controlled substance under section 18-18-405, C.R.S. (2014), is a lesser included offense of distribution under that section when the possession and distribution charges arise out of actions involving a single âdiscrete quantum of drugs.â See Abiodun, 111 P.3d at 471. 3 As such, convicting a defendant of possession and distribution of the same quantum of drugs violates the constitutional prohibition on double jeopardy. See id.; see also Â§ 18-1-408(1)(a). When a jury convicts a defendant for both possession and distribution of the same quantum of drugs, then, the trial court should merge the possession conviction into the distribution conviction for sentencing. See Abiodun, 111 P.3d at 471. Â¶36Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Therefore, whether Abiodun required Davisâs possession conviction to merge into his distribution conviction at sentencing hinges on whether the prosecution provided sufficient evidence to show the existence of more than one quantum of drugs. We turn now to the record to answer this sufficiency-of-the-evidence question.