Opinion ID: 2628002
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Heading: The Direct File Statute

Text: When construing a statute we begin with the plain language of the statute and give the words their plain and ordinary meaning. Lobato v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office, 105 P.3d 220, 223 (Colo.2005). If a statute is ambiguous, we examine the legislative goals underlying the provision, the circumstances under which it was adopted, and the consequences of possible alternative constructions. Id. at 223-24; § 2-4-203(1), C.R.S. (2006). We also consider the statute's declaration of purpose and legislative history. Lobato, 105 P.3d at 223. As both parties acknowledge, the direct file statute does not provide any express authorization to the prosecutor to file unenumerated charges against a juvenile in district court. We also agree with the parties that the district court exercises ancillary jurisdiction to permit the filing of unenumerated charges that could not otherwise be brought pursuant to the direct file statute. Flakes contends that, as a result, the direct file statute sweeps up any unenumerated charges filed with enumerated offenses into a broad category of crimes the conviction of which requires an adult sentence. We disagree. Rather, we hold that the district court retains its discretion to sentence juveniles found guilty of unenumerated charges as either adults or juveniles. We begin our analysis with the language of the direct file statute. The direct file statute enumerates the charges that a prosecutor may file against a juvenile directly in district court. § 19-2-517(1). The plain language of the statute explicitly limits the circumstances under which a prosecutor may directly file charges in district court: A juvenile may be charged by the direct filing of an information in the district court or by indictment only when [the juvenile has been charged with an offense enumerated below]. § 19-2-517(1)(a) (emphasis added); see Maddox v. People, 178 Colo. 366, 369, 497 P.2d 1263, 1264 (1972) (strictly limiting direct filing to enumerated offenses under the then-existing transfer statute). None of the charges listed by the statute include the charge of accessory to murder after the fact. Thus, we agree with both the State and Flakes that section (1) of the direct file statute does not expressly grant authority to the prosecution to directly file accessory to murder charges in district court. Having determined that the direct file statute is limited in scope to enumerated offenses, we turn to examine the district court's ancillary jurisdiction over unenumerated offenses. Ancillary jurisdiction is a judicially-created doctrine permitting the direct filing of unenumerated offenses with enumerated offenses. People v. Jiminez, 651 P.2d 395, 397 (Colo.1982) (holding that  when a court has jurisdiction to entertain criminal proceedings against a juvenile under [an older version of the direct file statute] any additional charges arising out of the same act or series of acts can and must be prosecuted in that same action even though they do not rise to [the requisite level of seriousness]) (emphasis added); see People v. Dalton, 70 P.3d 517, 522 (Colo.App.2002) (holding that the district court had ancillary jurisdiction to hear and impose sentence on a juvenile guilty of an unenumerated offense because the case included a charged enumerated offense). In Flakes' case, both parties agree that the district court had ancillary jurisdiction to hear and sentence Flakes for the conviction of the accessory to murder charges because the first-degree murder charges were included in the information directly filed in district court. The question is what sentence the district court may impose when exercising its ancillary jurisdiction over a juvenile found guilty of unenumerated offenses. When the sentencing provisions of the direct file statute are read as a whole, it provides broad authority to the district court to impose an adult sentence. This broad authority also includes a limited authority to impose a juvenile sentence. Because Flakes did not qualify for the limited exceptions allowing for a non-adult sentence, he concludes that he must therefore have been subject to a mandatory adult sentence. We disagree with his reading of the statute. Though broad, the sweep of the sentencing provisions of the direct file statute in section (3) is nonetheless limited to only those charges enumerated in section (1) of the direct file statute. Section 19-2-517(3)(a) reads: whenever charges are filed . . . in district court pursuant to this section, the judge shall sentence the juvenile as [an adult unless subsections (II) or (III) apply]. § 19-2-517(3)(a). Pursuant to means as authorized by; under. Black's Law Dictionary 1272 (8th ed.2004). Whenever, read in context with pursuant to, thus limits adult sentences to whenever charges are authorized by, and therefore enumerated in, section (1) of the direct file statute. The statute's language does not reach unenumerated offenses. The plain language of the direct file statute does not sweep sentencing for unenumerated offenses into the same category as enumerated offenses. To conclude otherwisethat the direct file statute's sentencing provision, by its silence, stretched beyond the scope of its authorizing provisionswould not be sensible. If we were to agree with Flakes, even misdemeanor and petty offenses filed with enumerated offenses would require an adult sentence. Given the General Assembly's careful and explicit determination of mandatory adult sentence offenses, none of which is less than a class four felony, we cannot conclude that through the statute's silence, it sweeps up any unenumerated offenses into its adult sentencing provisions. It also does not follow that, because Flakes did not qualify for sentencing under the limited non-adult sentence provisions, he was therefore subject to a mandatory adult sentence. The entire sentencing scheme of the direct file statute is limited to the enumerated offenses in section (1), including the subsections allowing for non-adult sentences. Thus, Flakes correctly notes that section 19-2-517(3)(c) does not allow a judge to impose a juvenile sentence for unenumerated offenses. Subsection (3)(c) permits, at the discretion of the judge, a juvenile sentence if the juvenile is convicted of a lesser included offense for which criminal charges could not have been [directly filed]. § 19-2-517(3)(c). A lesser included offense is a charge that is effectively brought at the same time as a charged offense for which the direct file statute already provides express authorization. [14] See Rowe v. People, 856 P.2d 486, 491 (Colo.1993) (explaining that an information charging the principal crime provides a defendant with sufficient constitutional notice of the lesser included offenses that do not appear in the information). Subsection (3)(c)'s scope is therefore limited, as is the rest of the direct file statute, to enumerated offenses or their lesser included offenses. Flakes also could not have been sentenced as a juvenile under subsection 19-2-517(3)(a)(III). As a threshold matter, Flakes was too old to qualify. [15] Further, subsection (3)(a)(III) strictly limits mandatory adult sentences to a narrow set of offenses which are themselves enumerated in section (1) of the direct file statute. Thus, even if Flakes qualified for juvenile sentencing under subsection (3)(a)(III), his accessory to murder conviction, as an unenumerated offense, would not have qualified him for either a juvenile or an adult sentence under this or any other provision of the direct file statute. We also conclude from the plain language of the statute that the General Assembly never intended mandatory juvenile sentences for unenumerated offenses. First, nowhere in the direct file statute does the General Assembly allow for mandatory juvenile sentences. In fact, the direct file statute specifically provides for the possibility that a juvenile will face a mandatory adult sentence for a certain class of offenses. § 19-2-517(3). As the history of the Children's Code illustrates, the direct file power was an express exception to the original Children's Code's mandate of a juvenile adjudication in all cases. Compare Act of 1903, with § 19-2-517, C.R.S. (2006). Next, the General Assembly permanently deprived the juvenile court of jurisdiction over those cases where the alleged acts qualify for a direct file into district court. § 19-2-517(2). [16] By doing so, it expressly cut off another avenue for mandatory juvenile sentencing. Thus, in light of both the language and history of the direct file statute, we conclude that the General Assembly precluded mandatory juvenile sentences once an information is filed directly in district court. See People v. Cross, 127 P.3d 71, 73 (Colo.2006) (noting that we do not add or subtract language to a statute where such language would contravene the legislature's intent). The direct file statute itself does not provide any sentencing authority for unenumerated offenses. However, to impose a legal sentence, a court must impose a sentence according to statutory authority. Roberts v. People, 130 P.3d 1005, 1007 (Colo. 2006); People v. Dist. Court, 673 P.2d 991, 995 (Colo.1983). Thus, we must look elsewhere for the court's sentencing authority. As a court of general jurisdiction, the district court has authority over criminal and juvenile matters. [17] It therefore follows that the criminal sentencing statutes and the Children's Code are each alternative sources for the district court's statutory sentencing authority. Where a district court determines that a juvenile sentence is appropriate, it must impose a sentence consistent with the Children's Code. See generally §§ 19-2-901 to -926, C.R.S. (2006) (post-adjudicatory process). Where a district court determines that an adult sentence is appropriate, it must sentence the juvenile consistent with the adult sentencing statutes. See generally §§ 18-1.3-101 to -1407, C.R.S. (2006) (sentencing in criminal cases). District courts have discretion to sentence a juvenile guilty of an unenumerated offense under either the Children's Code or the adult criminal sentencing statutes. The district court's discretionary decision is similar to the direct file statute's sentencing provisions in subsections (3)(a)(III) and (3)(c) for enumerated offenses. Discretionary sentencing is also consistent with the transfer statute, under which the district court also retains discretion to impose juvenile sentences. § 19-2-518(1)(d)(III), C.R.S. (2006); People v. Rivera, 968 P.2d 1061, 1066 (Colo. App. 1997). Finally, by reading the statute as requiring sentencing discretion, we avoid an interpretation that may give rise to the due process problems raised by Flakes in his appeal. Thus, reading the direct file statute as a whole and in a harmonious manner with the Children's Code, the district court retains discretion to sentence a juvenile guilty of a directly filed but unenumerated offense as a juvenile or an adult.