Opinion ID: 2637598
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plain Language Analysis of the Robbery Statutes

Text: To determine whether our robbery statutes protect persons or property we review how our statutes define a victim. Each robbery statute uses related but differing terms to describe the victim, and ultimately, we conclude that a plain language analysis does not resolve our competing interpretations. The robbery statute provides that A person who knowingly takes anything of value from the person or presence of another by the use of force, threats, or intimidation commits robbery. § 18-4-301, 6 C.R.S. (2002). The aggravated robbery statute provides that a person is guilty of aggravated robbery if during the act of robbery he knowingly wounds or strikes the person robbed or any other person. . . [or] knowingly puts the person robbed or any other person in reasonable fear of death or bodily injury. . . . § 18-4-302(1)(b). The phrase person or presence of another in the robbery statute refers to the victim of a robbery in the singular, which suggests that the legislature may have intended that a robber commits a separate offense for each person against whom she applies force and intimidation. [6] In contrast, the victim of an aggravated robbery is defined as the person or any other person. Whether this phrase refers to a single victim or a group of victims appears unclear. One possible readingthat any other person means a group of peoplesuggests that only one conviction based upon an incident involving multiple victims may have been contemplated. On the other hand, another possible reading of any other person refers to the victim in the singular, which suggests that similar to the offense of robbery, multiple victims give rise to multiple offenses. Because aggravated robbery is a heightened form of the lesser included offense of robbery, and because the robbery and aggravated robbery statutes address this issue inconsistently, we conclude that the plain language of our robbery statutes does not provide guidance on whether aggravated robbery is a crime against the person or a crime against property. Hence, we shift our inquiry to legislative history of our robbery statutes.