Court Opinion

ID: 9810329
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 21:47:14.083796+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:39:50.429214
License: Public Domain

JUDGE BERGER
specially concurring.
4[ 49 I write separately to note that I was a member of the division of this court that decided People v. Ray, 2015 WL 8839816 (Colo.App. No. 07CAOS61, Jan. 22, 2015) (not published pursuant to C.A.R. 85(F)). As the present division notes, the division in No. O7CAOS61 rejected defendant's argument that, for purposes of appellate review, the same standard of review that applies in capital cases should be applied to non-capital cases when convictions in the latter serve as aggravating factors in the former.
50 Defendant makes the same argument in this case, While the present division "hesitates to infer a rule that heightened serutiny applies to non-capital cases that serve as aggravating factors in capital cases," it nevertheless assumes that heightened scrutiny applies here and applies it.
«[ 51 While I fully understand the division's reasons for doing so, I would adhere to the determination made in No. 07CAO561 and apply the non-capital standard of review in the present case for two reasons. First, this is not a capital case and defendant has cited no authority providing that a non-capital case should be treated as a capital case when convictions in the former serve as aggravating factors in the latter. Second, the Colorado Supreme Court's most recent decision on the issue, by which we are bound, makes clear that generally applicable standards of review apply even in capital cases. See People v. Dunlap, 975 P.2d 728, 737 (Colo.1999).
1 52 But, in any event, defendant has not suffered any prejudice from the application of the heightened standard because his ineffective of assistance of counsel claims have been reviewed under a standard more generous to him than what, in my view, the law prescribes.
(53 With this minor reservation, I fully agree with the division's analysis of defendant's contentions and I join its opinion and disposition.