Court Opinion

ID: 9788929
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:22:42.03712+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:17.690064
License: Public Domain

Judge RUSSEL
specially concurring.
I concur in the judgment and endorse parts I and III of the majority's opinion. I write separately to advance an alternative analysis for part IL.
The majority holds that Crim. P. 24(d) does not conflict with § 16-10-104, C.R.S. 2005, because the rule "can be given effect without producing a result irreconcilable with the plain language of the statute." I think there is a conflict: under the rule, defendant was entitled to sixteen peremptory challenges; under the plain language of the statute, he was entitled to nine challenges. Defendant's case plainly falls within the class described in the statute as "all other cases, where the punishment may be by imprisonment in the correctional facilities operated by the department of corrections." Section 16-10-104(1), C.R.8.2005.
When a statute and a rule conflict, Colorado courts identify the prevailing law by determining whether the matter is substantive or procedural: if it is substantive, the statute prevails over the rule; if it is procedural, the rule controls. People v. McKenna, 196 Colo. 367, 585 P.2d 275 (1978).
A division of this court has held that § 16-10-104 prevails over a conflicting version of Crim. P. 24(d) because the number of peremptory challenges is a substantive matter. People v. Hollis, 670 P.2d 441 (Colo.App.1983). I disagree with this conclusion and would resolve this case on the ground that Crim. P. 24(d) controls.
I acknowledge that the right to peremptory challenges is substantive. (Thus, if the legislature were to disallow peremptory challenges entirely, the supreme court would lack authority to promulgate a conflicting rule.) But the application of this substantive right is subject to the supreme court's power to "make and promulgate rules governing practice and procedure in civil and criminal cases." Colo. Const. art. VI, § 21.
I think that the number of peremptory challenges is a matter of procedure. And I note that courts in other states have expressed the same view. See People v. Oswald, 188 Mich.App. 1, 469 N.W.2d 306, 309-10 (1991); State v. Greer, 39 Ohio St.3d 236, 530 N.E.2d 382, 395-96 (1988); State v. Nelson, 18 Wash.App. 161, 566 P.2d 984, 986 (1977).
Because defendant did not receive the number of peremptory challenges required under Crim. P. 24(d), the judgment of convietion must be reversed.