Opinion ID: 2628002
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Sentencing Hearings

Text: When a juvenile is sentenced as an adult, the sentencing court must explain why an adult sentence was chosen. See Kent, 383 U.S. at 560-62, 86 S.Ct. 1045 (requiring courts to give the reasons why a juvenile is to be subjected to adult treatment). Both the transfer and the direct file statutes contain this requirement. The transfer statute, amended in response to Kent, requires the court to make findings when determining whether a juvenile should be treated as a juvenile or an adult. § 19-2-518(3). The direct file statute also requires the court to make findings when exercising its discretion to sentence a juvenile as a juvenile or an adult. § 19-2-517(3)(a)(III). Reading these statutes together, a district court sentencing a juvenile found guilty of an unenumerated offense must also make the same findings before imposing a legal sentence. S.A.S. v. Dist. Court, 623 P.2d 58, 61 (Colo.1981) (citing Kent and holding that a juvenile must be accorded the essentials of fairness and due process before he may be subjected to a curtailment of his liberty interest in avoiding a criminal conviction). A decision to impose an adult sentence on a juvenile without judicial findings risks an arbitrary deprivation of a juvenile's liberty interest in avoiding a harsh punishment. A.C. v. People, 16 P.3d 240, 242 (Colo.2001) (noting that an adult sentence is the harsh punishment that the Children's Code was designed to avoid). Further, such findings are required for meaningful appellate review. Kent, 383 U.S. at 560-62, 86 S.Ct. 1045. Requiring a court to make findings already imposed by other statutes thereby avoids due process infirmities without creating any additional burdens. Therefore, we hold that a district court must make findings before the court exercises its discretion when imposing a sentence after a juvenile has been found or pleaded guilty to an unenumerated directly filed offense. [18] The transfer statute already provides the required statutory framework a district court must follow when making findings in support of the sentence it will impose. § 19-2-518(3)-(4). Section 19-2-518(3)(b) of the transfer statute sets the standard of evaluation and section 518(4)(b) lists those factors necessary to expose a juvenile to adult criminal process and also creates a record sufficient for appellate review. Therefore, the court's findings should include, but are not limited to, findings that take into consideration the interests of the juvenile and the community in imposing either a juvenile or adult sentence, the nature and seriousness of the offense including the use of weapons, the age and relative maturity of the juvenile, any criminal or delinquent history, and the impact of the offense on the victim and on the community. Id. In Flakes' case, the record does not adequately reflect whether the district court fully exercised its sentencing discretion. Though the court said that it considered the factors with regard to sentencing [Flakes] as an adult and juvenile, it did not state what those factors were or why they were insufficient to impose a juvenile sentence. Rather, the court seemed to say that it did not believe that the crimes Flakes was found guilty of allowed a juvenile sentence. In light of our holding that the court did have discretion to sentence Flakes as either an adult or a juvenile, and because the record is ambiguous as to whether the district court exercised its discretion, the case must be remanded for re-sentencing consistent with this opinion. See Adair v. People, 651 P.2d 389, 392 (Colo. 1982). We now turn to Flakes' constitutional challenges. Because many of his concerns rest on the notion that the direct file statute requires a mandatory adult sentence, our review is brief.